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THE GROWING POPULARITY OF MARATHONS Over the past half century, marathon running has become an increasingly popular sport. In 1976, just 25,000 runners completed marathons in North America. Forty years later, in 2016, more than half a million runners completed one of 816 marathons. These days, adventurous runners can find races all around the world, from the North Pole to the Great Wall of China-even through Disney World! New York's annual marathon remains the largest in the world, with more than 50,000 runners crossing the finish line. The Boston Marathon is the fastest marathon in the world, with an average runner-finishing time of under four hours. With so many races, the sport has become open to people of all ages and speeds. Runners as young as six and as old as 100 have completed marathons. Wilson Kipsang of Kenya, who currently holds the record for the fastest marathon, ran the Berlin Marathon in 2016 in only 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 13 seconds. Clearly, marathons will continue to grow in popularity in the years to come. Get the instant assignment help. What is the controlling idea? Has become an increasingly popular sport over the past half century marathon running?