Generally Speaking: World’s largest marathon runs passed us!

Over 52,000 runners trekked through the streets of Bay Ridge and along Fourth Avenue through Sunset Park, Park Slope and Downtown Brooklyn during the citywide 46th annual New York City Marathon. Perhaps even much more, as we spotted several in the waves of runners not wearing the official number tag (or bib). However, as per early preliminary statistics, 51,388 registered runners crossed the finish line in Central Park, making this the world’s largest marathon.

Participating in this premier race is not cheap! The entry fee was $255 for U.S. residents that are not members of the New York Road Runners organization, and $216 for members. For foreign runners, the fee was $347. Counting the U.S.A., there were representatives from 120 nations.

Some of the signs we saw read: “Run fast — you’re missing brunch!”  “Run, smile, vote,” “Alberto rocks,” “Run crazy Italian!” “Welcome to Brooklyn,” “Good luck to all,” “Go Catlin,” “Go Seth,” and “NYC loves you.”

Two well-known Bay Ridgeites were among the mass of fleet-footed finishers. Tom McCarthy completing his 16th marathon, and Andrew Gounardes notching his first. McCarthy, a former New York State Assembly candidate, is the current president of the Bay Ridge Historical Society. Gounardes, a past State Senate candidate and general counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, is the immediate past president of the society.

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Noted pianist and composer William Zucker, a life member of the Society of Old Brooklynites, performed at the November monthly meeting of the borough-wide civic group that was founded back in 1880 when Brooklyn was an independent city and the third largest in the nation.

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BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by Ted General 
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by Ted General

NYPD officer Steven McDonald, now a wheelchair-bound detective who was shot three times, once in the head by a 15-year-old teenager, was invited to address the older students attending St. Patrick Catholic Academy at 97th Street and Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge. He was introduced by Academy Principal Kathleen Curatolo and by Monsignor Michael Hardiman, the pastor of St. Patrick’s Church.

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Green-Wood Cemetery’s full-time historian Jeffrey Richmond, also an attorney and author, will be the guest speaker at the November 16 monthly meeting of the Bay Ridge Historical Society at 7:30 p.m., in the Shore Hill Neighborhood Center, on 91st Street between Colonial Road and Shore Road. He will be discussing his latest book, The Gallant Sims. Captain Samuel Harris Sims, a Brooklyn native, was a Civil War hero. He served with the 51st New York State Volunteers. The society meeting is open to the public.

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