Newsday
NEW YORK — Tracing the steps of the fallen off-duty firefighter who raced in full gear toward Ground Zero during the 9/11 terrorist attack and honoring his sacrifice, more than 30,000 runners from across the globe Sunday morning made their way through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel in the 14th annual Stephen Siller 5k Run & Walk.
Many Long Island volunteer fire departments and other first responders from the tri-state region, some wearing heavy gear, were represented at the event, which culminated in a rally, barbecue and concert in the long shadow of the newly erected One World Trade Center tower.
Bill Byrnes, 53, of Southold Fire Department, said of running through the tunnel and Siller, “There’s nothing to look at but the walls, and you have a chance to reflect on what he was thinking about.”
Emerging from the darkness and seeing the rows of banners with the fallen firefighters’ photographs was even more emotional, said Byrnes.
“Everybody knows the number 343, but to see every picture, it’s really amazing,” he said. Byrnes was at the race with about 30 colleagues from the Southold, East Marion and Greenport fire departments.
There were also college students, including about 70 runners from the Hofstra University men and women’s lacrosse teams, and representatives of the armed forces, including about 2,500 cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Many were only children when Siller perished and others had not been born. Several parents carried their children on their shoulders Sunday as they completed the run.
Siller, 34, a Rockville Centre native and Staten Island resident, had just finished a shift the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he learned a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center. Blocked by vehicle traffic and unable to drive back to Manhattan, he strapped on 60 pounds of firefighting gear and sprinted nearly two miles to lower Manhattan from Brooklyn through what was then known as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.
“I get a real good opportunity to reflect on this journey all the time because I’m amazed at what we’ve been able to accomplish in honor of my brother,” Frank Siller, chairman and chief executive of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, told Newsday.
The 5K run and walk was created in remembrance of Siller and the 343 firefighters killed in the 9/11 attacks. Their portraits were displayed on silk-screened banners held by firefighters in dress blues, greeting runners and walkers as they emerged from the tunnel.
At the rally, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the event’s massive turnout year after year was evidence Siller’s sacrifice and that of other first responders will never be forgotten.
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro called Siller “one of the bravest of the Bravest.”
Katherina Kasap, 28, a volunteer with the New Hyde Park Fire Department, wore what she estimated was 30 pounds of firefighting gear. She said that as she ran, she thought about Siller and “what people are willing to do for their country.”
This year, for the first time, the images of the 23 NYPD officers and 37 Port Authority police who died at Ground Zero also appeared on banners.
Yesterday’s race is expected to raise $1 million for charitable causes.
The foundation, started in Siller’s name and run by his six siblings, has raised about $50 million since its 2002 inception.
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