Run in the sun
Runners endure 13.1 miles of fun
during Brooklyn Half Marathon
ON THE RUN: (Above) A whopping 26,803 runners completed the Brooklyn Half Marathon on May 18, which
ended in Coney Island, where (right) David Parson and Cathy Hartwell struck a pose. Photos by Erica Price
BY COLIN MIXSON
Fitness fanatics the world over
gathered in Prospect Park for
the 39th-annual Brooklyn Half
Marathon on Saturday, where
the runners pushed themselves
to the very limit of human
endurance — to snag one
of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs!
“The minute you get to Coney
you know there’s a party
in the end,” said Sunset Park
resident Connie Bree, who celebrated
her one-hour, 46-minute
fi nish with one of the Coney
Island eatery’s delicious
dogs. “That’s going to make
anybody faster.”
A whopping 26,803 runners
completed the 13.1-mile race,
setting off from Brooklyn’s
Backyard in the early hours,
before shooting down Ocean
Parkway, and ending to the
roar of cheering crowds on
the Coney Island Boardwalk
in a route that one Manhattan
runner described as hard to
beat in more ways than one.
“It’s one of my favorites,”
said runner Alex Rush, who
clocked a personal-best time
of one hour, 49 minutes during
Saturday’s race. “The
course is so cool, going
through Prospect Park, getting
to run all the way down
Ocean Parkway, and you
LINE DRIVE: A runner powers through the last leg of the Brooklyn Half
Marathon.
can’t beat ending at Coney
Island. It’s so much fun.”
Organizers with the New
York Road Runners distributed
an estimated 520,000
recyclable cups of water and
Gatorade for the race, which
was a year in the making,
according to a spokesperson
for New York Road Runners.
Out-of-towner Louis Serafini,
who traveled from
Somerville, Mass., to compete
in the Brooklyn Half,
annihilated the race record
by a breezy four seconds,
finishing in an impressive
one hour, three minutes,
and beating out Ethiopian
runners Birhanu Dare Kemal
and Urgesa Kedir Figa
for the gold.
West Side Runners
Club member Fein Gudeto
Gemeda won the women’s
race with a time of one hour,
12 minutes, beating US Olympic
Trials qualifier Roberta
Groner and Harriott Kelly.
Jggers were joined by former
New York Giants running
back Tiki Barber and
20 COURIER LIFE, MAY 24–30, 2019 M BR B G
GET SET, GO!: Brooklyn Half Marathon runners started off from Prospect
retired Jets offensive tackle
D’Brickashaw Ferguson,
who ran for New York Road
Runner’s Team for Kids Ambassador.
Barber finished in
one hour, 52 minutes, while
Ferguson crossed the finish
line after running two
hours, 15 minutes.
Other famous finishers
included Broadway actress
Christy Altomare, model
Ruby Aldridge, and awardwinning
chef Daniel Humm.
Park early Saturday morning.