New York City Marathon will not be held this Sunday

After days of growing pressure from politicians, residents and runners themselves to cancel the New York City Marathon,  city officials and the event's sponsors have decided that the race will not be held this Sunday.

Details on whether or not the race would be postponed or cancelled are unclear and how the New York Road Runners — the organization which sponsors the run —would handle the change.  It's too early to know how popular the news will be among the field of nearly 50,000 runners expecting to compete — thousands who have traveled to New York to run and have trained for months.

The move comes just as the city announced that power has been restore to huge tracts of the East Side and Lower Side of Manhattan and the criticism of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to hold the race swelled.

Bloomberg issued the following statement moments after news of the cancellation came out:

"The marathon has been an integral part of New York City's life for 40 years and is an event tens of thousands of New yorkers participate in and million more watch.  While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division."

"The marathon has always bought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination.  We would  to want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it.:

"We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event — even one as meaningful as this —to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track.  The New York Road Runners will have additional information in the days ahead."

Bloomberg repeatedly said the race would go on for the good of the city's economy despite the prospect of participants running through neighborhoods ravaged by the storm.

He finally made the right decision.