A group of 5,000 runners will make its way through Central Park on July 11, in a four-mile race honoring the 2,977 people who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The race will take place exactly two months before the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
The 9/11 Memorial and Museum four-mile race, which is being presented by real estate company RXR, begins at 7:30 a.m. this Saturday on East Drive near East 69th Street and finishes on the 72nd Street Transverse off West Drive. An opening program will pay tribute to the victims, along with the first responders, recovery workers, survivors, and families affected by the attacks.
This race is the first time the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has partnered with New York Road Runners (NYRR) to produce its annual 9/11 remembrance run, a partnership that was announced in April.
The museum has hosted the race every year since 2013, previously as a 5K held in April in Lower Manhattan, which followed a route inspired by the paths rescue and recovery workers took in the aftermath of the attack.
This year, the event is a four-mile Central Park race that counts towards NYRR 9+1, the program runners use to qualify for the 2027 TCS New York City Marathon.
All funds raised for the race will go to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum to help keep the outdoor memorial free to visit and also to expand education programs that reach students, teachers, and communities across the country. Organizers announced a fundraising goal of $800,000 for this year’s event.
Among those registered is Sonia Agron from the Bronx, a retired EMT who volunteered at Ground Zero, caring for first responders. Agron has run the race every year since 2013, and the race gives her a sense of closure each year after a cancer diagnosis later in 2001 left her feeling she never finished her recovery work, according to a press release.
Another runner is Hanna Born, a US Air Force pilot from Alexandria, VA. Born was 3 years old inside the Pentagon’s daycare center when American Airlines flight 77 struck the building, the press release said.
On Sept. 11 last year, Born launched her “Run to Remember 2,977” in which she aims to run 2,977 miles, one for every life lost in the terrorist attacks 25 years ago.
Ashley Geczik from Astoria, Queens, is running in memory of her father, Michael, an AT&T telecommunications worker who spent five days restoring communications at Ground Zero after the attacks, later passing away from 9/11-related cancer.
Following the race, on Sept. 11, victims’ families will gather on the memorial plaza to read aloud the names of the 2,983 people killed in the 2001 attacks and the Feb. 26, 1993, World Trade Center Bombing.
Registration for Saturday’s race has since closed, but supporters can attend the race in person as spectators and learn more about NYRR and the race at nyrr.org/911memorialandmuseum.
