Some 700 marathon refugees will get 26.2 miles of New Hampshire’s remaining foliage instead of New York’s concrete jungle as they run the Manchester City Marathon on Sunday.

The New York City Marathon became a last-minute casualty of Hurricane Sandy when organizers and Mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled the race Friday afternoon, saying it should not be held in a city still struggling to recover. The cancellation left scores of runners from all over the world scrambling for a way to accomplish a goal months in the making.