After the New York Marathon was canceled because of the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the Nov. 18 Philadelphia Marathon opened an additional 3,000 spots for runners unable to participate in the canceled event.

Runners who were registered for the New York Marathon can enter a lottery for one of the newly available spots, the Associated Press reports. Runners can register for the lottery until this Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. The lottery will open on Wednesday.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg canceled the Nov. 4 event in the days leading up to the marathon and after the impact of Sandy had been felt all along the eastern seaboard. Marathon officials had drawn criticism for continuing to plan for the event in the days directly following Sandy's landfall last week.

Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter said he wanted to "support the running community" that had trained so hard for the visible New York event.