{"id":235947,"date":"2026-05-18T21:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/235947\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T21:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:59:21","slug":"boosted-by-crowds-more-than-30000-runners-finish-record-breaking-2026-brooklyn-half-marathon-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/235947\/","title":{"rendered":"Boosted by crowds, more than 30,000 runners finish record-breaking 2026 Brooklyn Half Marathon \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

A record-breaking 30,341 runners raced 13.1 miles from Prospect Park to the iconic Coney Island in the New York Road Runners\u2019 Brooklyn Half Marathon on Saturday.<\/p>\n

It was the largest number of participants in the race\u2019s more than 40-year-history, according to New York Road Runners<\/a>, and more than 20% of them \u2014 a total of 6,648 people \u2014 were Brooklynites.<\/p>\n

Those runners went all out in their home borough. Brooklynite Danica Reinick took first in the nonbinary division, finishing the race in 1:18:17, according to official results; fellow Brooklyn Track Club Member Evan Sherman took fifth place in the men\u2019s division with a time of 1:05:59.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"brooklynThe 2026 RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon was the largest in the history of the race. Photo by Erica Price \"brooklynThe race ends on the iconic Coney Island boardwalk. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

Maurice Evans, a 57-year-old Brooklyn native and a member of the handcycling team Prevailers Racing<\/a>, placed seventh in the hand cycling division. Evans, who has used a wheelchair<\/a> for more than 30 years, only started racing about three years ago, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, Evans said he was helping to train other handcyclers at the Axis Project<\/a>. One day, Penelope Richards \u2014 the captain of Prevailers \u2014 asked for some help with her own marathon training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018OK, alright, that\u2019s what I\u2019m here for,\u2019 not knowing that it was actually a hidden agenda, she actually wanted me to join the team,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been racing ever since then, and has already racked up dozens of medals, he said. This year was his third Brooklyn Half Marathon.\u00a0
\n\"mauriceMaurice Evans (left) with teammates from Prevailers Racing. Photo by Erica Price\n<\/p>\n

While most marathoners struggle with the second half of the course \u2014 a six-mile stretch down Ocean Parkway without much shade \u2014 Evans said the worst part were the hills in Prospect Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to get up the hill, and I\u2019m hearing footsteps coming, and that actually encouraged me to push harder,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my mind, I don\u2019t want to have a worse time than the people that are running.\u201d<\/p>\n

He loved riding on Ocean Parkway and hearing the roar of spectators.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking around because most times when I do my races, there\u2019s runners around me, other hand cycles right there. When they\u2019re clapping and all that, I think they\u2019re clapping for me, and they\u2019re clapping for the people behind me,\u201d he laughed. \u201cSo to be on Ocean Parkway and to stop and realize, \u2018Oh, they\u2019re clapping for me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"rbxRunners approach the end of the race. Photo by Erica Price \"\"Race day conditions were tough, participants said, but there was plenty of water and cold towels to go around. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

Where Evans excelled on Ocean Parkway, 35-year-old Naoko Suga was dreading it.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

A Long Island City resident, Suga said she played soccer as a teen and started to hate running and cardio training because of it. A few years ago, she set a goal to run a full marathon \u2013 but decided to start with a few halves.<\/p>\n

She ran one last year, she said, and trained for this year\u2019s RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon for about three months. An employee at a local Hoka running shoe store warned her about the back half of the course, Suga said, and she was \u201ca little nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"naokoNaoko Suga at the end of her first RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

But she was buoyed by spectators\u2019 \u201cfunny signs\u201d and the sight of the ocean at the end of the race. Suga hopes to run the TCS New York City Marathon someday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven after finishing this half, I was like, \u2018Could I do this twice in one one go?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like it\u2019ll be challenging, but still I think it\u2019s something I want to do in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrea Geurin, a 46-year-old Upper West Sider, has been running since she was a teenager and taking part in NYRR races for years, though this was just her second Brooklyn Half Marathon.<\/p>\n

Geurin, who teaches Sports Business at NYU, secured her spot in this year\u2019s race late. She invited someone from Road Runners to speak to her class, she said, and the rep offered an extra entry to the race. Though Geurin hadn\u2019t been training for a half marathon and \u201cwasn\u2019t really in great shape for it,\u201d she didn\u2019t want to pass up the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"familyLoved ones cheered for runners finally finishing the 13.1 mile race. Photo by Erica Price \"spectatorSpectators waved encouraging signs for runners at the end of the race. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

The weather was uncomfortably warm, Geurin said, but less humid and more comfortable than last year.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

She paced herself better than she did at her first Brooklyn Half Marathon, where she went out too fast and burned out quickly. It was still tough, Geurin said, but the live entertainment along the course \u2014 cheerleaders, live music, spectators \u2014 gave her a boost.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, you need that push, you need someone cheering for you,\u201d she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

At the same time, Road Runners were making regular announcements along the course encouraging runners to slow down, take it all in, and not push themselves in the heat, Geurin said, and handed out cold, wet towels at the finish line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"andreaAndrea Guerin (at right) after completing the race. Photo by Erica Price \"medalsRoad Runners volunteers lined up, ready to present runners with their medals. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

Last year, 31-year-old Charles Rogers died after collapsing<\/a> about halfway through the Brooklyn Half. He was the second runner to die at the race since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Road Runners held a moment of silence before the race in Rogers\u2019 honor, Geurin said, and she later learned that one of his good friends, Kenneth Serrano<\/a>, was running in his honor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought that it was really nice that they were able to honor that person in a really respectful way,\u201d Guerin said.\n<\/p>\n

At the end of the race, most participants celebrated with live music, concessions and activities at the After-Party at Maimonides Park.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Runners hold hands as they cross the finish line. Photo by Erica Price \"marathonersMarathoners reunited with their loved ones and celebrated at the after party in Maimonides Park. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

But Evans said that while he feels that Road Runners team \u201cdo a great job,\u201d he and the other marathoners with disabilities were left in a lurch.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cUs in hand cycles, most races that we do, when we complete the races, we have to keep going for another two or three miles just to drop off our bikes and hand cycles,\u201d he said. \u201cAt that moment, if we have motorized chairs, our chairs won\u2019t make it back to the festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t enough accessible bathrooms at most races, Evans said, and he often has to go out of his way for a facility. It\u2019s frustrating, he said, especially given how much hand cyclists and wheelchair users have to go through to complete a race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they need to correct that and also I think they need to let us enjoy the festivities, try to find a way that we can enjoy the completion of the race, just like anyone else that\u2019s crossing that finish line,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, when I cross that finish line, and can\u2019t make it to [where] everybody else is coming up and stuff like that, it kind of takes away from it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A record-breaking 30,341 runners raced 13.1 miles from Prospect Park to the iconic Coney Island in the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[92349,13478,98,83290,100,99,92350,119,92351,67569,92352,92353,3991,92354,92355,9,24,2458,12,370,63,15716,92356,15739,14509,89979,168,319],"class_list":["post-235947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-andrea-guerin","tag-axis-project","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-half-marathon","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-charles-rogers","tag-coney-island","tag-danica-reinick","tag-half-marathon","tag-hand-cycling","tag-hand-cyclist","tag-heat","tag-maurice-evans","tag-naoko-suga","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-road-runners","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-nyrr","tag-prevailers-racing","tag-prospect-park","tag-race","tag-rbc-brooklyn-half-marathon","tag-running","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}