By Tracy Zwick
The Upper West Side’s most prolific streaker is hitting the parks and streets again.
No, not that kind of streaker.
Dave Obelkevich of West 97th Street has run the NYC marathon, fully clothed, more consecutive times than anyone in the race’s history. He’s crossed the finish line every year since 1976, the year the marathon became a five-borough course.
New York Road Runners, the nonprofit that organizes the marathon, honors the over 250 runners who’ve completed at least 15 consecutive NYC marathons with the “Streaker” designation. That comes with perks, including automatic entry into future NYC marathons, special bibs, early morning bagels, and, perhaps most coveted of all, non-porta-potty pre-race bathrooms.
But those flushing toilets are earned.
Obelkevich, who’s been on the UWS since his student days at Columbia, wasn’t much of a runner as an undergrad, “but I’ve made up for it in the years since!” he told WSR by phone earlier this month. The retired public school music teacher peaked around 1982, when he ran a personal best – a blistering two hour and forty minute marathon.
Recently, the marathon’s been an all-walking exercise for 83-year-old Obelkevich. “I had a serious leg injury five or six years ago,” he explained. “If I run a 13-minute mile these days I’ll be out of breath.” He’s turned in eight to nine- hour finishes the last few years, with his 60-year-old daughter, Maria, an Achilles International runner, by his side.
In 2003, Maria told her dad she wanted to run the marathon. “I said ‘I’ll run it with you, every step,’” Obelkevich reported. “We did it in just over five hours,” he said, “and then again two years later.”
Obelkevich began to lose his sense of balance a few years ago, and started competing as an athlete with a disability (AWD). Maria, who lives in Virginia, will be his guide and support this year, the sixth time they’ve taken the marathon course together.
Obelkevich reported that the marathon has changed significantly over the years he’s been entering, as has his approach to training, and the UWS. “In 1974, my marathon prep was one six-mile run per week,” he said, comparing that with his current weekly mileage of between 20 and 40 miles.
In the marathon’s first three years, there were a total of six women finishers, a figure that rose to 63 by 1976, or 4% of the field. The 2025 TCS New York City Marathon had more than 27,000 women finishers, making up 46% of the field, according to NYRR’s Public Relations Coordinator Matt Ricupero.
The crowds have changed, too, Obelkevich reported. “The crowds were completely on the road, not the sidewalks, in the early years,” he said, making it “hard to pass other runners.”
As for the UWS, Obelkevich misses places like Gabriella’s, the erstwhile Mexican restaurant on Amsterdam and 93rd Street, where he recalled celebrations that included a mariachi band. But overall, Obelkevich said he’d seen the area become safer and better, with amenities like Trader Joe’s. “In 1967, I was looking for an apartment north of 96th Street. The prices were two-thirds of what they were farther south. Brokers would say, ‘That’s near Harlem, it’s very dangerous!’”
When asked if he had any sense back in 1976 that he was starting a running journey that would last half a century, Obelkevich said he had no idea. And while his race times have stretched after 50 marathons, he was clear that other aspects of his performance have improved. “I’m better at running slow, that’s for sure,” he said.
And he’s gotten better at making friends while running, which has long been a priority. “I don’t care if you win every single event. If you don’t make at least two new friends, consider yourself a failure,” he said.
Asked what he would consider a successful 2026 race, Obelkevich replied: “Getting to the finish line. I want to live up to my reputation as NYRR’s number 1 Streaker!”
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