At a news conference this afternoon, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the ING New York City Marathon would be run as scheduled on Sunday.

“There are tens of thousands of people who come from around the world here to run,” Bloomberg said. “We’ve decided that the marathon will go on.

The announcement came after city and race officials determined that it would be safe to hold the 26.2-mile event in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Bloomberg said at the news conference that the race is an important part of the city’s economy, and people who died in the storm would want the race to go on.

“The bottom line is, some people said you shouldn’t run the marathon,” he said. “There are an awful lot of small businesses that depend on these people. We have to have an economy.”

The race is expected to attract about 47,000 runners, and will be carried live on ESPN2 and ABC7. The ESPN broadcast is the first live, national airing of the race since 1993.