Finish line painted for TCS New York City Marathon

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The ceremonial painting of the lines at the finish line in Central Park Thursday for the TCS New York City Marathon is the official kickoff to marathon weekend.

All four of the champions from the 2014 marathon are ready to roll again this year, as well as some other notables.

Retired tennis pro James Blake, recently in the news after the NYPD mistakenly tackled him and tried to arrest him, is running on behalf of his cancer foundation. The marathon's longest "streaker," Dave Obelkevich, who has been running the marathon for 40 years straight, is also participating.

Susanna Philips, a soprano for the Metropolitan Opera, will sing the National Anthem before running.

This year's grand marshal is Spike Lee who said he also produced and directed what he calls a "love letter" to his favorite city. It will start the broadcast on Sunday.

"This is a great honor," he said. "We all know New York City is the greatest city in this God's planet."

And a secure one, if you ask the police commissioner, as the New York City Police Department works to handle the World Series, Halloween and marathon all in the same weekend.

"We have a very large police force that is able to deal with these very large events," said NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

The marathon has plenty of notables. All of the defending champions are back, including men's wheelchair champ Kurt Fearnley, from Down Under. And that's despite last year's painful condition.

"Last year, the hard part, was 40 mile per hour head winds. That was extremely uncomfortable," he said.

Like the others, he wouldn't dream of missing it.

Blake will be running on behalf of his foundation for cancer. The president and CEO of the New York Road Runners club, Michael Capiraso, will also be running, in between working.

"I have a little streak going. This'll be my 24th consecutive marathon," said Capiraso.

But Sgt. Neal Vespe has him beat. He's led the whole marathon motorcade for more than 30 years, and this year is his last.

"It'll be like any other marathon. But at the end, when I cross the finish line, I'll be a winner," said Vespe.

As the start approaches, both the stage and security are set firmly in place with 1,866 uniformed officers, to be exact.

"In addition to that, there'll be a lot of what you don't see, the counter-terrorism people," said Bratton.