The Bronx Burners are starting their usual weekly practice in an unusual way: by digging out the Joseph Yancey Track and Field.

“Warm up tonight is very different… but a foot of snow,” said Rob Dalto, a co-founder of the Bronx Burners. “Now [we’ve] got the whole team out here helping clear the track so that we can get back to doing what we love doing.”

What You Need To Know

Rob Dalto co-founded the Bronx Burners run club to encourage people in the borough to get moving

His team has put on large events to promote running and gotten club members involved in the city’s run culture

The Bronx Burners have distributed $175,000 in scholarships and provided mentorship

Dalto is in the thick of it with his team. A 37-time marathoner, he co-founded the running club in 2023 after a chance encounter with Shaquille Roberts.

“I was actually filming a bit in Central Park,” Dalto said. “I was flagging down strangers who were running the New York City Marathon and trying to see if there was some way that I [could] support them on their journey.”

“We got to talking a lot, and I basically told him that I wanted to make, like, running cool in the Bronx, because when I was younger, we didn’t have anyone to look up to for long distance running,” Roberts said.

So the pair started working out at the Joseph Yancey Track and Field one night in June. Whenever they met someone new, they invited them to join in.

“Every single person said, ‘Yes,’” Dalto said, remembering that night. “And that’s when we kind of knew that we were on to something.”

They are now a nonprofit, with more than 150 adults and kids. They hit the track every Wednesday night.

“It has given me purpose, has given me family,” said Steven Persia, a 19-year-old who has been running with the Bronx Burners for the last year and a half. 

Dalto’s team is going the extra mile for its members. They’ve helped members get involved in the city’s running community and big events. They’ve raised $175,000 in scholarships. And they’ve advocated for improvements to the Yancey Track.

“We realized that we had the community thing down, but we saw a much bigger purpose to serve in facilitating opportunity,” Dalto said. 

They are creating a path both emotionally and physically to get people in the Bronx on their feet.

“It’s so important each day to have routine, to have stability, and sometimes when things feel unstable, having something that you can rely on each and every day to anchor yourself in, to support yourself, to have a better day. It’s a win-win,” he said.

For clearing a path for running in the Bronx, Rob Dalto is our New Yorker of the Week.