When Joel Kaufman of Queens walked across the TCS New York City Marathon finish line last year past 8 p.m., after most runners and spectators had long since left Central Park, he earned an unusual honor.
“I got a call the next day from New York Road Runners,” Kaufman told The Post about the organization that produces the 26.2-mile race. “[They] said, ‘You’re the official last finish.’ I said, ‘That is so great. I got a title that nobody can take away from me.’ It’s not like being the 57,000th finisher.”
Kaufman’s time of 8 hours, 43 minutes and 34 seconds — a pace of 19 minutes and 59 seconds per mile — was his slowest in the decade he’s been walking the NYC Marathon to support people battling leukemia and lymphoma blood cancers.
The 66-year-old retired high school math teacher who goes by “Whammy” will be back for Sunday’s marathon — and this time he’ll be starting two hours earlier as a nod to his inspirational story.
“I’m going to be starting at 9:10, 10 minutes after the elite runners, with three-hour marathoners next to me,” Kaufman said. “I’ll be all the way on the right side of the road, walking with my cape and 50,000 people will run past me shouting, ‘On your left.’”
Kaufman wears a cape spotlighting leukemia patients and those who have helped him raise over $150,000.
He also sports an American flag headband, a Jewish star, a military-style dog tag calling for the return of Israeli hostages, a shirt highlighting the Team in Training fundraising program for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and a necklace of colorful feet that celebrates his pal’s recovery after a stem cell transplant.
A longtime hiker, Kaufman was inspired to start walking the NYC Marathon in 2015 by a childhood friend who developed leukemia and has since died. He finished the race in 7 hours and 40 minutes.
“Once I got in marathon shape, I couldn’t just go back on the couch, and it certainly filled my days and gave me something to do during the day as a retired teacher,” Kaufman said.
The father of four has completed marathons at Disney World and in London and Chicago as well.
Kaufman typically trains by walking 5 miles every other day. He walks instead of runs to reduce the chance he’ll get injured.
That means he’s on the course for a very long time. His fastest NYC Marathon was 6 hours, 53 minutes and 4 seconds in 2017. His “dream time” is 6 hours, 30 minutes.
Marathoners have until 10 p.m. to complete the five-borough course no matter their start time.
Kaufman brings music with him, though the battery only lasts five hours. He usually finds someone to talk with to pass the time.
He also carries his own snacks — pretzel crisps, protein bars and Fig Newtons — and a water bottle in case the water stations are running low when he arrives.
Usually by the time he hits First Avenue in the Bronx, toward the end of the race, it’s a “zombie walk.”
“It’s dark, and most of the people that are at the bars on First Avenue, they barely notice you. A couple go, ‘Hey, you’re still running. Keep it up,’” Kaufman said. “[Once] somebody said to me, ‘You could run.’ And I looked at him — that might have been at like mile 16 or 17 — and I said, ‘You could shut the f up.’”
His goal with every marathon is to “finish and live.” Last year, he placed 51,266th of 51,348 finishers.
NYRR told The Post that Kaufman was the last person to officially cross the finish line — the finishers listed after him spent longer on the course but started earlier.
This year, NYRR is letting Kaufman start at the back of the first wave as part of Team Inspire, a group of 26 marathon runners — one for each mile — with the most compelling stories.
Kaufman plans to keep adding chapters to his story by walking more marathons.
“There’s no reason for me to stop,” he said. “I’m just warming up.”
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