All bags brought anywhere near the New York City Marathon will be searched. Family members heading to the finish line will go through a special screening. People marching in the kickoff parade will not be allowed to carry bags of any kind.

A helicopter supplied additional security for April's Salt Lake City Marathon by hovering over the finish line.

Those are just some of the security restrictions New York’s marathon organizers are taking in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings as they work to ensure the safety of next month’s race, the biggest in the country.

“Safety is always the first priority with the marathon,” said Mary Wittenberg, the chief executive of New York Road Runners. “I think we’ve found a new normal coming after Boston.”

Much as the airline industry revamped its procedures after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, race organizers are overhauling their approach to road racing security.

Almost immediately after the Boston bombings in April, Wittenberg consulted with Raymond W. Kelly, the commissioner of the New York City Police Department. Her organization hired an international private security firm, MSA Security, to conduct “a top-to-bottom analysis” of the organization’s existing security plan, she said.

The security firm gave marathon organizers “a pretty good report card,” said Peter Ciaccia, an executive vice president of Road Runners. But as a result of the analysis, marathon organizers are trying to seal off more areas, perhaps most notably at the family reunion area, where new bag checks will be installed along Central Park West, Ciaccia said.

“We’re not trying to create a police state,” he said. “It’s going to be a great day, a celebration.”

Other security elements will include clear plastic bags used to store goods; an expansion of baggage inspection areas at the race’s start on Staten Island; special screenings for visitors to the family reunion area; and an increase of assigned police officers, uniformed and undercover.

A police spokeswoman declined to comment on the department’s security plans for the race other than to say, “We review our security measures on a day-to-day basis.”

Anthony C. Roman, a fraud and security expert with Roman & Associates, said he expected the Police Department to use some combination of its extensive counterterrorism tools: scuba divers, helicopters, video surveillance programs, intelligence relationships with federal agencies and bomb-sniffing dogs, to name a few.

“The resources being brought to bear on this are remarkable,” Roman said.

Marathons have long posed security challenges. While the N.F.L. can seal off stadiums, the paradelike, sprawling layout of a marathon that winds through the city’s five boroughs creates a security headache.

Last year’s race was canceled because of Hurricane Sandy. “I think the overwhelming thing we’ve heard from runners is that they want this event to go on,” Wittenberg said.

Runners at the starting line at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island will be screened in the organization’s database, as will any volunteers or contractors involved with the operation of the marathon.

The security situation will be on the minds of many runners.

Ibra Morales, a runner who lives on the Upper West Side, ran in the Boston Marathon this year, only to be stopped at Mile 26 when the bombs went off. This fall, he will attempt to run the New York City Marathon, a race he has completed more than 30 times.

But with the Boston blasts taken into consideration, he plans to run in the middle of the road this year.

“I don’t think anything will happen,” Morales said. “But you have to be alert. I will not run with fear.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/s...athon.html?_r=0

Voor ik dit artikel las had ik het artikel over hetzelfde onderwerp gelezen op de site van Le Monde (http://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article...07312_3242.html) en wat mij opviel was dat in het artikel uit de NYtimes niet vermeld wordt hoeveel camera's er gebruikt zullen worden om de veiligheid voor de marathon te garanderen. Le Monde zegt dat er 1400 camera voor winkels zijn bijgekomen en nog eens 6000 vanuit de politie. NYtimes vermeldt dit echter niet. Ik denk dat dit bewust gedaan is om de lopers niet af te schrikken, en vind het niet kunnen dat mensen hier niet van op de hoogte gesteld worden. Het mag dan wel voor hun eigen veiligheid zijn, ik vind toch dat de lopers zulke informatie moeten krijgen. Ik vraag me ook af wat er met die camera's gebeurt na de marathon?

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