In A Mist: 40,000+ Runners & Walkers Raise Money for Fallen Heroes in 23rd Annual T2T 5K

The mostly quiet streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn and lower Manhattan surged to abundant life for the 23rd annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk on Sunday morning, September 29.

Despite the wet, windy and slightly chilly conditions with temperatures in the mid 60s, more than 40,000 participants and spectators made the event another rousing success. The pre-race fear of some participants that this year’s T2T would be politicized ahead of the upcoming Presidential election proved to be unfounded.

Indeed, other than a quick shout out to President Reagan, during the event’s opening ceremonies, politics of any kind was scarcely evident at all, and not a single MAGA nor Harris-Walz baseball hat was seen, though more than a few firefighters, men and women alike, did wear their fire helmets and other gear on the more than three-mile trek from Red Hook to lower Manhattan. There were chants of U-S-A heard from various people that ran as a group, but who can argue with that?

Although the NYPD is in a period of upheaval at the moment, First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella, an avid runner, both spoke at the opening ceremony and subsequently ran the event.

The Tunnel to Towers 5K honors the memory of firefighter, Stephen Gerard Siller. A member of FDNY Squad 1, based in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on September 11, 2001, the 34-year-old Siller had gotten off duty when the Twin Towers were attacked. Hearing the news on his radio, Siller rushed back to the firehouse, retrieved his gear and tried to drive downtown to help.

Finding the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel closed to vehicles for security reasons, Siller ran the nearly two miles into lower Manhattan carrying 60 pounds of gear on his back. Siller died sometime following the collapse of the South Tower at 9:59 AM.

The first Tunnel to Towers run was held the following year with 1500 runners. Its promoter, the non-profit Tunnel to Towers Foundation, was co-founded by Siller’s older brother, Frank, who’s also the organization’s present CEO.

Speaking to a reporter before this year’s race, Siller said “What we’re doing is so important, taking care of all these great heroes and their families, so yes, I think we’d be successful if we just doing the run itself.”

Stephen Siller’s son, Stephen Siller Jr, echoed these thoughts. “Honestly, it’s a beautiful thing, I feel his presence in my life every day. Because of him we’re able to help so many people and I’m so grateful for what we able to make out of his loss.”

Besides the Tunnel to Towers 5K, the Foundation promotes numerous other New York City events—and partners with other races elsewhere—to raise money for the families of first responders who died on 9/11 or from subsequent 9/11-related illness.

Among the Foundation’s other missions includes providing assistance to homeless veterans; Gold Star military families and catastrophically injured veterans and educating young people about the events of 9/11.

While this year’s T2T fundraising total was still being determined, past events have brought in more the one million dollars. Since its founding, T2T has spent over $250 million on housing and other services for veterans and first responders.

This year’s event payed special tribute to NYPD police officer Jonathan Diller, who was shot to death during a March 25, 2024, traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens. The 31-year-old Diller left behind a wife, Stephanie, and an infant son. The T2T Foundation has since paid off the Diller family’s mortgage on their home in Massapequa, Long Island.

The actual starting line of the Tunnel to Towers 5K is just above the entrance to the Hugh L. Carey/Battery Tunnel, which most people pass through without much thought. Above ground, there’s a Triborough Bridge and Transit Authority police station adjacent, as well as the Brooklyn Motor Inn, which is currently being used as migrant hotel.

Before the tunnel’s construction in the 1940s, however, this area was part of a thriving, working class Italian and Puerto Rican neighborhood centered on nearby Van Brunt and Columbia Streets. Maritime oriented Hamilton Avenue ran all the way to the docks then, and the mafia, whose control of the longshoremen’s union was absolute, and a very real presence in many people’s lives.

Lots of T2T participants saw much more of Red Hook than this, however, as the event’s staging area was about 3/4ths of a mile away, at the Brooklyn Ikea on Beard Street, formerly the site of the historic Todd Shipyard.

From Beard Street, the thousands of colorfully clad runners and walkers made their way up Dwight and Richards Streets, passing such landmarks as Red Hook Houses, largest public housing project in Brooklyn; Coffey Park, which was used as a staging area for the race’s multiple waves of runners; and the imposing Gothic edifice of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church constructed, after fire destroyed its previous structure, in 1896.

Standing out among this crowd were the many groups of firefighters dressed in their fluorescent yellow emblazoned fire gear; various military groups including groups of West Point Cadets; U.S. Marines and Navy ROTC sailors; numerous law enforcement agencies, from cops to court officers to the FBI; and citizen patriots of many ethnicities and multiple generations who were both excited, and humbled, to be able to participate in such a unique event.

As runners and walkers exited the tunnel, they were greeted with current firefighters holding the banners depicting a firefighter from their house who was among the 343 firefighters who perished on that day. There were also banners to the 23 NYPD officers and the 37 Port Authority police who died that day. In total, there were The 9/11 attacks left 2,977 dead across New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania with the biggest toll coming in NYC where 2,753 who died.

Loudspeakers set up along the route allowed people to hear the pre-race ceremonies unfolding at the event’s starting area adjacent to Harold L. Ickes Playground, just west of the Battery Tunnel, the perimeter of which was festooned with American flags for the occasion. (Ickes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior from 1933 to 1946, played a crucial part in implementing many of FDR’s “New Deal” policies.)

Singing the national anthem, as they have at all previous editions of the race, was the duo of Al Lambert and Jack Funari.

Despite the solemnity of the occasion, and the notable presence of heavily armed NYPD Counterterrorism officers, the mood was festive, albeit very wet, as the huge crowd drew strength from their shared sense of purpose. That T2T gets much of its support from—and is a frequent advertiser on—conservative media outlets like Fox News and the Sean Hannity Show is simply not relevant here. Rather, it’s the common cause of seeking to help those who have sacrificed their lives to others that is all important, no matter who one might vote for.

On the Manhattan side of the course, the where the route emerges uphill onto West Street, participants were met by more than 2500 Army cadets from the West Point Military Academy before continuing to the finish line at Murray Street. As runners and walkers exited the tunnel, they were greeted with firefighters holding banners of their 343 fallen comrades, many from the houses that they themselves joined years after the actual attacks. There were also banners to the 23 NYPD officers and the 37 Port Authority police who died that day. In total, the 9/11 attacks left 2,977 dead across New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania with the biggest toll coming in NYC where 2,753 who died.

In the Hudson River, runners could see an FDNY firefighting boat shooting streams from its water cannon into the air in salute to this year’s race participants.

Abundant food and drink, and a concert by country music star, Tyler Hubbard, formerly of Florida Georgia Line followed.