Marathon officials said applications to compete in the Nov. 6 race were running ahead of last year's pace.
Officials of the New York City Marathon started accepting lottery applications Monday for the Nov. 2 race on their Web site.
The process is also a bureaucratic marathon, with a 95-page application that the State Department scrutinizes for several months.
Last month Slide partnered with VH1 to to promote its application alongside a marathon of reality shows.
A lottery system has replaced the first-come, first-served application process for the marathon lineup.
Miguel Such, who won the wheelchair event in 1998 and 1999, and Tony Niguero, an artist and professional wheelchair racer who finished third last year, were given the first wheelchair applications for the 2000 marathon yesterday.
Hey, Rob, how is your application to run in the marathon going?
Still, this year's marathon drew more than twice as many applications as it had openings by the May 31 deadline.
Page B12 TRACKING THE MARATHON Spectators can track runners with the cellphone application for the New York City Marathon on Nov. 6.
Besides the marathon entry fee, the Road Runners charges an application processing fee of $11 (unchanged from last year).
