Mara is Top Cop in Mayor's Cup

Say hello to Shaun Mara, the fastest of New York's Finest.

Mara, an NYPD officer and East Northport resident, was the first cop to finish at the Mayor's Cup race of the New York City Marathon on Sunday, clocking in at just a kiss shy of three hours. “I was a little surprised!" he said. "My goal was to complete the race in three hours and I crossed the finish at 2 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds."

Each year for nearly three decades, teams of runners from the NYPD and FDNY compete in the Mayor’s Cup at the New York City Marathon. The race is conducted similarly to a cross country race: the top four or five individual finishing places on each team are combined, and the team with the highest total wins. Although it was the FDNY who won this year's race, Sergeant Mara was the first police officer to cross the finish line.

After the race, Mara had the honor of speaking with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “He’s the big boss so it was very cool getting to talk to him. This was the first time I’ve seen him in a one-on-one setting and he was super congratulatory and very nice.”

Mara, 45, has been a police officer for 14 years now but began his running career way before that. “I started running when I was in high school a million years ago” he said. “In catholic schools they really push you to just be involved and do something. So I figured, I’ll run.”

It wasn't long before Mara's experience on the high school track took him to the streets of Boston. In 2008, a friend dared him to compete in the Philadelphia Marathon. Marathons? Twenty six miles? At the time he thought it was all a bit excessive. “I ended up doing okay and found out that I qualified for the Boston Marathon,” he said. Boston is the only marathon that you must meet the standard time that corresponds with their age and gender; when Mara realized what a big deal it was, he decided to start training and ultimately competed.

His typical marathon training regimen is twenty weeks of feet vs. pavement.  “You start running about 35 miles a week and eventually you build up to 70 a week, then gradually run less and less as you get closer to the race.”

What sets the Mayor's Cup marathon race apart from others, he said, is that he's running with all the other New York City police officers as a team. Mara hopes he's inspired younger members of the force to participate in upcoming years to swing the odds in their favor against the FDNY. “Maybe if we can get some younger guys I won’t have to run so fast next time!” he joked.