The ING New York City Marathon 2009 men's champion, Meb Keflezighi, the first American men's winner of the race since Alberto Salazar in 1982, will have a special ride in next week's 83rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
Keflezighi will ride aboard the Stature of Liberty float alongside Miss America 2009, Katie Stam. The parade will be broadcast nationally on NBC from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in each local time zone across the country.
Keflezighi ran a brilliant strategic race in New York, pulling away from four-time Boston Marathon Champion Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya in the final two miles to win in a personal-best time of 2:09:15. The win gave Keflezighi the USA marathon championship and his fourth national title of 2009.
He earned a total prize-money payday of $200,000, including $130,000 for the overall win, $30,000 for running sub-2:09:30, and an additional $40,000 for the U.S. title. He also finished atop the USA Running Series rankings for 2009, earning an additional $6,000.