America Unable to participate in the New York City Marathon, a software engineer organized a spontaneous marathon without a license, without requiring registration or payment of entry fee, and allowed runners to run relays.
“Everyone wait a minute,” Matt White, a tall man in a gray shirt, announced, signaling that the race was about to begin.
A few minutes before 9 p.m. on July 14, a small group of runners gathered around the Manhattan entrance to Williamsburg—the bridge that spans the East River, connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn—hastily pasted homemade bib numbers onto their shirts. As the clock struck 9 p.m., White—who served as the unofficial race director—gathered the group, and with a twinkle in his eye, he announced, “Run whatever pace you want, whatever feels right.” Then the first lap of the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon began.
The Williamsburg Bridge connecting the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan, New York. Photo: AP
Earlier in July, White posted a link inviting people to the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon on Reddit at r/RunNYC . The race quickly spread and sparked excitement in the New York running community.
The link says the race "will start at 9 p.m. Friday, July 14," and will be where runners "experience the excitement/joy/victory/challenge of running 10+ laps of the bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn." But White stresses that "runners may have to run more than 10 laps," as he's not sure how long the Williamsburg Bridge is, and he couldn't find consistent results when he "called out" to Google.
White is a 28-year-old software engineer who used to row in college and doesn’t consider himself an athlete. He runs for several months each year and enjoys challenging himself with a unique endurance feat or two.
A few weeks earlier, White had excitedly signed up for the 2023 New York City Marathon on November 5, but was turned down. That day, he decided to run a marathon alone on a course near his Brooklyn home. “I thought it was funny,” White says. “So I looked for more interesting places to run.” He then chose the Williamsburg Bridge and came up with the idea of doing a spontaneous race.
The humor, playfulness and flair displayed on White's Reddit link caught the attention of Reddit users and prompted runners like James Jackson to drop plans and show up in Williamsburg on Friday night. Jackson read through the site and was immediately drawn to it. "This is great, this is fun. Someone's crazy. But it's fun," he said.
White (wearing the number 66) also ran the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon, which he helped call for, organize, and inaugurate. Photo: Runner's World
Then Jackson found White’s marathon on Strava, the world’s most popular social network for runners. “I had never heard of this guy. But White was like a cat with a leg and wanted to run a marathon,” Jackson says. “Someone took a screenshot of the announcement and sent it to the group chat. And we were all like, ‘This is awesome, I want to support it.’”
Jackson's friend Miranda Feamster had never run a marathon before. So when she was encouraged to enter the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon, Feamster suggested in the group chat that they compete as a team and split up the distance.
Initially, people were confused by the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon website, which said there was no registration, no entry fee, no aid stations, and no event permit. It all seemed like a joke. The race description read: "After months of exploring the New York route, we are excited to announce a straight-and-turn route."
White continues his humorous tone by noting that runners can expect “some famous hills” along the way, including Williamsburg on the Manhattan side and Williamsburg on the Brooklyn side. Despite the roar of traffic beneath the pedestrian walkway, the Williamsburg Bridge is a popular running spot, but it’s not exactly the kind of place to run multiple laps in a row.
A pedestrian walkway sits above the Williamsburg Bridge, with cars underneath. Photo: NYC
Runners quickly hailed White as a genius. His eccentricity attracted about 35 people to the unofficial race. There were green-shirted participants, like Emily Templeton, who had started running a few months earlier and was training for the Warriors Ultra-Run, a 28-mile overnight experience that recreated the escape route from the 1979 film The Warriors. She saw the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon at night as a great opportunity to practice.
Some seasoned runners also took part. The unofficial winner was Diego Arantes, 24, who ran 2 hours, 33 minutes, 49 seconds. He relied on the GPS on his watch to know when he had run the full 26.5 miles. Arantes had set a goal of breaking 2:20 at either the Philadelphia Marathon or the London Marathon, so he took the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon seriously. The Brazilian said he was motivated by “the random, crazy endurance challenges” at White’s spontaneous race. Arantes also only learned about the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon the night before and thought, “Why not?”
Runners were all smiles as they passed the cheering area, at the halfway point of the bridge, where electrolytes, water, pineapple chunks and a few beers were available. This was also where the runners in the group changed teams in relay style. In her first marathon, Feamster took charge of the final leg, and her team completed the 26.5 miles in 3 hours, 19 minutes and 1 second. They then walked off the Williamsburg Bridge to a rendition of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”
Two runners run through the cheering area and water station in the middle of the Williamsburg Bridge during a spontaneous run in New York on the evening of July 14. Photo: Runner's World
Before the race, White was nervous about running a marathon with a group for the first time. But after going home and immediately going to bed, he woke up the next morning feeling optimistic. Everyone expressed excitement about the 2024 Williamsburg Bridge Marathon and the idea could inspire others to organize similar special races on other bridges.
White even reported the end of the race with a Reddit message expressing gratitude to those who attended the spontaneous and unofficial race. "It was a pleasure running the Williamsburg Bridge with you guys," he wrote. "As I mentioned, when I left my apartment to go to the track, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I experienced exceeded my wildest dreams of this race."
Hong Duy (according to Runner's World )
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