Monday, November 8, 2010
Edison Peña, one of the 33 miners who had been trapped underground in the San José copper-gold mine in Copiapó, Chile, participated on Sunday in the 41st annual New York City Marathon. Peña had arrived at the city on Thursday, and had been invited by the New York Road Runners, organizers of the marathon.
Before the marathon began, Peña and Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg saluted the runners from a stage in Staten Island. The event started at 09:40 local time (14:40 UTC; 11:40 Chile time), and Peña finished at 15:30 (20:30 UTC; 17:30 Chile time), approximately five hours and fifty minutes after the race began. The length of the marathon was about 43 kilometres (26.7 miles). According to Radio Cooperativa, the marathon had a record attendance.
“It was worthwhile for me to come this far to run a marathon, because I want to motivate people,” Peña said. “In this marathon I struggled. I struggled with myself, I struggled with my own pain, but I made it to the finish line,” he added.
Peña, aged 34, is a fan of Elvis Presley, and asked for some of Presley’s music while he was underground. Peña also entertained his fellow miners by singing Presley’s songs. On October 13, he became the twelfth miner to be rescued from the mine.