by Jennifer Marino
Russell Siller, Stephen's brother and a Rockville Centre resident, walked into a 7-Eleven the day after the race and spotted a picture from the race on the front page of the New York Times. "I almost fell over," he said.
The route of the race is similar to the one Stephen Siller followed on Sept. 11, 2001, when he abandoned his car and ran through the tunnel to try and help his fellow firefighters at the World Trade Center. This is the second year the fund-raiser has been held.
Rainy weather only further inspired race participants, said Russell. It poured while volunteers set up at about 5 a.m., and rain came down again as the runners and walkers waited to enter the tunnel. As "New York, New York" played, Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and a radio talk show co-host, told the crowd to consider the rain holy water from heaven, according to Russell.
Senator Chuck Schumer and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz also addressed the racers as they waited to begin the 5K run/walk. Among the field was a large contingent from Rockville Centre, including Bill Hogan, co-founder of the Friends of Rockville Centre 911 Memorial Fund.
The Sillers' parents died when Stephen was young, and Russell helped raise his brother in Rockville Centre.
Competitors ran the first 1.7 miles of the race inside the tunnel, passing 343 firefighters holding American flags. The winner of the race, appropriately, was a firefighter from Florida named Dan McKay.
The dampness seemed to create a bond among the participants. Russell said that Stephen would have loved the rain. "It reminded me of him," he said. And the gloom reminded others of the sacrifices so many made on Sept. 11, he added.
About $200,000 was raised in the fund-raiser, which will benefit a variety of charities. So far, $75,000 will go the New York City Fire Fighters Burn Center, and $50,000 will go to the Freedom Alliance, a foundation for children of military personnel who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After the race, the festivities included a performance by country artist Eric Horner. The actor John Turturro, a Siller family friend, read the poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman. One line reads, "I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence."
