On the Avenue: Bensonhurst resident runs second NYC Marathon!

“Gotta run!”

More than 50,000 runners from around the world competed in the annual TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 5, racing through all five boroughs and stepping foot “on the avenue” in Bay Ridge for a portion of the 26.2-mile course.

While the overall winners of the race hailed from Ethiopia (men’s division winner Tamirat Tola) and Kenya (women’s division winner Hellen Obiri), many participants hailed from the boroughs themselves.

Bensonhurst resident Anthony Furia, for example, ran and completed his second marathon, proudly documenting his journey on social media along the way. The first time, he said, he was concentrating on achieving his goal of finishing the race. This time, he was able to truly soak in the experience.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be a multi-time New York City Marathon finisher,” Furia told us. “The first race was truly a bucket list item — to run in the most famous marathon in the world. To run it again and truly appreciate and enjoy the fanfare and taking the entire marathon experience in is something special.”

Furia felt the support from the huge crowds of onlookers who gathered to cheer for the runners as they made their way down Fourth Avenue after racing across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island.

“Seeing and hearing all those people through the five boroughs shows what New York City is all about and I couldn’t be prouder; I’m even emotional about it,” he said. “To have friends and family there to support me meant so much and we were all in it for the same goal — just to finish because we all have our own personal stories and to complete something this monumental, something that takes a strong mind and body, is just a great feeling of accomplishment.”

Kudos to Furia and the thousands of others from Brooklyn and beyond who competed and achieved their own personal goals. In the end, Tola finished with an incredible time of 2:04:58 and Obiri completed the race in an impressive 2:27:23. Hope to see them back “on the avenue” next year!

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Happy anniversary to the folks at Jabour Realty — a fixture “on the avenue” for the past 35 years!

The revered Bay Ridge realty company is led by Wade Jabour, who served for decades on the board of the Merchants of Third Avenue Civic Improvement Association, Inc., and his daughter Danielle, who were both on hand Nov. 3 to receive accolades marking their milestone anniversary from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, led by Randy Peers, and local elected officials including Councilmember Justin Brannan and state Sen. Andrew Gounardes.

Here’s to another successful 35 years in Bay Ridge!