Grete Waitz (1 October 1953 – 19 April 2011) was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons between 1978 and 1988, more than any other runner in history. She also won a silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki.

Born Grete Andersen in Oslo, Norway, Waitz was a talented young runner, but had difficulty in getting her parents to take her potential profession seriously. This was a time when female athletes were not given the necessary support and funding needed to compete at the top level. However, Waitz ran at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich in the 1500 metres, and to support her athletic career she studied at a teachers college.

In her teen years, Waitz won national junior titles in Norway in the 400 and 800 metres. At age 17 she set the European junior record for 1500 m with a time of 4:17, and won a bronze medal at the European Championships in this event in 1974. In 1975 Waitz broke the 3000 metres world record, running 8:46.6 in Oslo. In Oslo a year later she lowered this record with an 8:45.4 effort, then in 1977 she won a gold medal at this distance at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics meet in Düsseldorf with a personal best time of 8:31.75. Her 4:00.55 career best in the 1500 m, set in Prague in 1978, still stands as the Norwegian national record. Her last race was a victory at 5000 metres in Oslo in June 1982, in which her 15:08.80 was the second best in history, falling only a half second short of the world record set three weeks earlier by Mary Slaney.

Fred Lebow (June 3, 1932 – October 9, 1994), who was born Fischel Lebowitz, was an avid runner and founder of the New York City Marathon. Born in Arad, Romania, he presided over the transformation of the race from one with 55 finishers in 1970 to one of the largest marathons in the world with over 43,660 finishers in 2009. He was posthumously inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2001.

Lebow ran in the inaugural marathon in 1970, finishing 45th out of 55 runners with a time of 4:12:09. He ran his last NYC Marathon on November 1, 1992 in celebration of his 60th birthday, after being diagnosed with brain cancer in early 1990, with his dear friend, 9 time NYC Marathon women's winner Grete Waitz with a time of 5:32:35.

During his career he completed 69 marathons in 30 countries. Along with the NYC Marathon he also organized the Empire State Building Run Up, the Fifth Avenue Mile, and the Crazy Legs Mini Marathon, the first strictly women's race. Lebow was also president of the New York Road Runners Club for twenty years.

Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is an English long-distance runner. She is the current women's world record holder in the marathon with her time of 2:15:25 hours. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon, two-time New York Marathon champion, and won the 2002 Chicago Marathon.

Radcliffe is a former world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country. She has also been European champion over 10,000 metres and in cross country. On the track, Radcliffe won the 10,000 metres silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and was the 2002 Commonwealth champion at 5000 metres. She has represented Great Britain at the Olympics four times consecutively (1996 to 2008), but has not won a medal on the Olympic stage.

Radcliffe is an asthma sufferer who is against the use of drugs in sport. She is married to her coach, Gary Lough, and has two children.

Her running has earned her a number of accolades including the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Laureus World Comeback of the Year, IAAF World Athlete of the Year, AIMS World Athlete of the Year (three times) and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). She has also been nominated for World Sportswoman of the year on several occasions. In 2010, she was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame.