Oct 30, 2012 2 min read

NEW YORK (AP) — The biggest challenge for the New York City Marathon Sunday could be getting to the start, not the finish.The mayor of storm-battered New York says the race is still on, but flying in runners from out of town will be tricky, and there may not be a subway to get everyone to the starting line.Superstorm Sandy shut down transportation, closed airports, flooded streets and left scores of neighborhoods without power – formidable obstacles for the organizers.Still, they were moving forward with plans Tuesday, leaving open the possibility of changes from past years.The 26.2-mile route through the five boroughs mostly avoids the areas hit hardest by flooding. Organizers were expecting nearly 50,000 runners before the storm hit. However they have no idea how many will actually make it to start the race.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could be four or five days before the subways were running again, which means they may not be available on race day. Commuter trains may not be operating normally, either.The starting line is on Staten Island and about half the entrants normally would take the ferry and others would take buses through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Both were closed because of flooding. The marathon was projected to pour $340 million into the city, but it also requires major support from municipal departments strained by the monster storm that wreaked havoc Monday evening.