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Abdi Nageeye celebrated winning the New York City Marathon with strangers in New Jersey
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Abdi Nageeye celebrated winning the New York City Marathon with strangers in New Jersey

Abdi Nageeye celebrated his marathon victory at the Carnegie Diner & Cafe in Jersey. Courtesy of Carnegie Diner & Cafe

Imagine you win the Super Bowl, but you have no one to celebrate with. This is the situation in which he found himself after the Somali-Dutch Abdi Nageeye finishing first in the men’s race at the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Luckily, when you need to party, you can always count on Jersey.

Page Six hears that after taking a shock win – his first major marathon victory – Nageeye “had no plans”. But some fellow marathon runners randomly contacted him on Instagram and invited him to a party in Secaucus, and he took them up on their offer.

The restaurant was full when Nageeye arrived. Courtesy of Carnegie Diner & Cafe

“He didn’t have a plan, so he got into an Uber,” the source said.

The new champion got to celebrate his victory with a packed restaurant at the Carnegie Diner & Cafe. Nageeye “entered the packed restaurant for live music and plenty of food” around 10.30pm and stayed until 1.30am, according to our source.

Nageeye crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 39 seconds. Getty Images

β€œHe had the time of his life! He … thought it was going to be a low-key moment, but he loved every minute of it,” they said.

2022 marathon champion Evans Chebet was 6 seconds behind Nageeye. John Jones-Images Images

Nageeye finished the 26.2-mile race around the five boroughs in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 39 seconds β€” six seconds ahead of 2022 marathon champion Evans Chebet. It was his first victory after three previous attempts, making him the first runner from the Netherlands to ever win the men’s race. He previously finished third in the New York City Marathon and won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“When I was finishing, the emotions weren’t there at this point, but I just couldn’t believe I was going to win,” Nageeye told The Associated Press after the race.

Nageeye said he couldn’t believe he was going to win. Getty Images

“I felt like I was dreaming. Most people didn’t even expect me to be in the top five, but I know what I’m capable of. That was my race today,” he said.