Thousands Run In 2014 Philadelphia Marathon
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Tens of thousands of runners hit the city's streets Sunday for the 2014 Philadelphia Marathon.
The first to cross the finish line on the Ben a Franklin Parkway was 29-year-old Dan Vassallo (in above photo) from Peabody, Massachusetts. His time: 2 hours, 7 minutes and 28 seconds, qualifying him for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
"Ever since I hurt myself in March 2013 it's been, 'okay, I've got to take some time off from the marathon. I'm going to try to qualify in Philadelphia 2014,'" Vassallo said. "So this is almost 8,000 miles worth of work."
Vassallo also won this same race in 2010.
As for the women, it was Leonora Petrina from Long Island, originally from New Zealand, who finished with the fastest time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was her first full marathon ever, and a victory with the help of those cheering.
"They put on a good event," Petrina said. "They look out for you well and the crowd out there was awesome."
And so was the weather.
"Perfect," she said. "You couldn't ask for anything better after the week we've had."
But not everyone in attendance was running. Candace Linehan from Media, Delaware County was there cheering on her friend, Lindsay.
"She looked excited and she was taking pictures of the finish line," Linehan said, "so that tells me she had a lot of energy. I was super excited for her and it makes me motivated, because I would like to do it next year."
More than 30,000 runners participated in this year's marathon and several related events throughout the weekend, including a half marathon, an 8-kilometer run, and a Kids Fun Run.