Back in 1973, Dave Obelkevich was just out for a jog in Central Park when he noticed something weird. A bunch of people were running around with numbers pinned to their shirts.
Turns out it was the New York City Marathon. Dave didn’t even know it was happening.
So he did what any curious New Yorker would do: he hopped in, ran a six-mile loop and thought, okay, next year I’m getting a number.
Fifty-three years later, Dave is 83, and on Sunday, November 1, he’ll line up for his 50th NYC Marathon.
He’s also the only person on the planet who has finished every single five-borough NYC Marathon since 1976. Not bad for a guy who got into it by accident.
The jog that started it all
True to his word, Dave got that number in 1974 and crossed the finish line.
In 1975, he dropped out. Then came 1976, the year the race expanded from loops around Central Park to all five boroughs, and Dave finished again.
He hasn’t missed one since.
Funny enough, for years he had no idea he even had a streak.
The race was just something he did every fall with his running buddies. “It never occurred to me not to do it,” he once told DNAinfo.
From Columbia student to marathon legend
Dave was born upstate and moved to the city in 1961 to attend Columbia University. He went on to become a high school music teacher and has called the Upper West Side home for decades.
And the man has range. His fastest NYC Marathon came in 1982, when he ran it in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
He has completed 115 marathons and more than 200 ultramarathons, including eight Boston Marathons and “10 or 12” Yonkers marathons, as he told us.
He’s lost count. Honestly, fair.
A streak that just won’t quit
Keeping a streak alive for five decades takes more than strong legs. Over the years, Dave has:
- Run the marathon with a broken rib from a cycling crash in the ’80s
- Recovered from an aneurysm in his leg in late 2020, with the cancelled 2020 race giving him time to heal without losing his streak
- Outlasted his old streak partner, Tucker Andersen, who had to sit out in 2009 with a knee injury and handed Dave the record
So what would it actually take to stop him? “Yeah, death would stop me, I guess,” he joked back in 2016.
He’s watched the marathon transform
Dave has had a front-row seat to the race’s glow-up. In the early days, runners might see two or three people per mile, and half of them were heckling, asking why the runners didn’t just get a car like normal people.
Now? More than 2 million spectators line the streets, and last year’s race set a record with 59,219 finishers. Running a marathon has gone from something people thought was nuts to a bucket-list goal.
His advice for first-timers
When we caught up with Dave in Central Park, he had one big piece of advice for anyone thinking about running: make New York your first marathon.
With 2 million people cheering you on, he says nothing else even comes close. Coming from a guy with 115 marathons under his belt, we’ll take his word for it.
Cheer him on November 1
This year’s race is extra special. It marks the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course, and NYRR has named Dave to its 2026 Team Inspire, a group of runners with the most compelling stories in the field.
He won’t be running alone, either. Dave will be pounding the pavement alongside his daughter, Maria.
Keep an eye out for his shirt. It reads “Finisher, every NYC Marathon, 1976-????” Those question marks are doing a lot of work.
Spot him on the course? Give him a cheer, and remember to tell him to have fun.
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