{"id":367739,"date":"2026-10-08T10:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367739\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T10:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:46:10","slug":"runners-of-nyc-benjamin-toomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367739\/","title":{"rendered":"Runners of NYC: Benjamin Toomer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of Benjamin Toomer\u2019s fondest running memories is competing in the club cross country scene in London after graduating college.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople would tease each other, and it would really matter to people how they were performing, and how the team was performing as well,\u201d Benjamin remembers.<\/p>\n

Now living in New York City since 2018, he says that team spirit remains his favorite part of the running community across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Part of it is the external competition between the different teams in the NYRR circuit. However Benjamin has also drawn a lot of motivation from trying to keep up with his own Central Park Track Club teammates in races over the years\u2014including the professional field of the New York City Marathon.<\/p>\n

We spoke with Benjamin to compare the college and post-grad running scenes between the U.K. and U.S., why Team Champs should be a more \u2018defining\u2019 race in the NYC calendar, how running teaches you to enjoy the little things and more.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

To start off, can you give an intro of where you\u2019re from and how you initially started running?<\/p>\n

Yeah, sure. So my name is Benjamin Toomer. I grew up in England, playing soccer until I was 16, in a city called Bristol. Kind of gave that up around 16 or 17, and then didn\u2019t really do very much for a while. Moved to university in London at age 18, and kind of bummed around a bit. The academics were pretty hard for the first couple years, and that\u2019s the time where you first get your freedom as an adult, so I didn\u2019t do very much. I quickly realized that I missed playing sport, but I didn\u2019t really want to get involved in the soccer culture that they had, so I decided that I would try my hand at a different sport and got into cross country, which was more like a drinking club.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very, very different, the sports club culture attached to universities in England, compared to what I understand it is in the United States. It was way more casual. But I met a lot of friends and found out that I was kind of good without trying all that hard. I competed in a few local races, there was a cross country league there that was contested amongst some of the other colleges in London. Had a lot of fun, met friends. And after university finished, I continued on and joined an athletics club, started going to the track, and my love of the sport just continued to grow.<\/p>\n

So that was kind of how I got into it before my job relocated me in 2018 to New York City. Having had such a good experience being a member of a club in London, the first thing I knew I wanted to do when I moved was to find a suitable organization here, and Central Park Track Club was such a perfect fit that I hopped right in and started competing for the club and training with the best guys in the club back then.<\/p>\n

You touched on it a little there, but how would you compare and contrast the college club scene in the U.K. with what you\u2019ve seen or talked to people about the NCAA scene?<\/p>\n

Yeah, just shocking how good people are in college [in the U.S.] The depth is crazy in the United States compared to the U.K. There are only like two or three universities [in the U.K.] where people really have a shot of making pro, where they\u2019re actually anywhere of a similar quality.<\/p>\n

But I think maybe they don\u2019t have the same financial incentives in the U.K. college system that [the U.S. does]. So any really good talent, the likes of Josh Kerr, they kind of transfer and they go to U.S. universities anyway, where the facilities and the training environment are just much more conducive to running fast times. So I think there\u2019s almost a bit of a vacuum of really good runners at that level\u2014U.S. college runners would probably think it\u2019s embarrassing. So people kind of just do it for fun a bit more.<\/p>\n

But then I feel like post-college, U.S. people I\u2019ve seen kind of burn out. Where there\u2019s not the same financial and academic incentives for them to train hard, they kind of walk away from the sport. But I feel like you have a really good, strong depth of people post-college in the United Kingdom. So that\u2019s kind of the differences that I\u2019ve observed between the two systems\u2026.<\/p>\n

With only a few exceptions, like maybe St Mary\u2019s University and Loughborough and Birmingham\u2014there are three or four colleges where people really go for it, and maybe they\u2019re comparable quality. But there are hundreds of universities where everybody\u2019s just rubbish, including mine.<\/p>\n

Was there ever a question of whether you\u2019d keep training and competing at a high level after college?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I really enjoyed\u2014as much as the friendships that I made\u2014challenging myself and seeing the improvements became a bit addictive. So then it was a good opportunity to meet people, get fit, and you can also get the satisfaction of seeing yourself improving. So for me it wasn\u2019t a consideration at all. I knew that I had a lot more potential, because I only did a couple of years in college. So I really just wanted to see how good I could get with the budget that I had, in terms of time, fitting it in around work and such.<\/p>\n

So I was a member of a club in London called Hercules Wimbledon, and I still retain a small connection to those guys. Whenever I\u2019m back in London, I try to meet up with my old friends and strap on the singlet. And on occasion, even since I moved to New York, I\u2019ve gone and competed for them still.<\/p>\n

Can you compare and contrast the post-grad club running in London with your experience in New York?<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s a good question. My original thought was, \u2018London was way deeper. There was a load of people, a lot of interest, a lot of groups and competitions\u2019…. And I do think, with the exception of New York, I\u2019ve not seen anywhere else [in the U.S.] that has so many good clubs all around, and people incentivized to do these races for their team and put on the singlet.<\/p>\n

So in that way, London and New York are probably quite comparable in the post-college scene. And looking at the times that people are running here in New York, they\u2019re absolutely on par with what people were doing in London. I looked at the Team Champs times this year, it\u2019s super inspirational to see people that don\u2019t dedicate everything to running, but they\u2019re still capable of smashing out really quality times. So I\u2019d like to see a smackdown between the best runners in New York and the best runners in London at some point\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see a smackdown between the best runners in New York and the best runners in London at some point\u201d<\/p>\n

I really love the [NYRR Club] Points system and the team spirit that you get from that competition, and there are lots of similar things in London, mostly oriented around cross country. There are two or three big leagues, and they have a number of different fixtures that run every year, and people are really passionate for it. There\u2019s a really hard, tough, friendly rivalry, which I really liked.<\/p>\n

People would tease each other, and it would really matter to people how they were performing, and how the team was performing as well, and that really encouraged everybody to try and do their best at any competition. And so I think that the equivalent here in New York with the club system is very, very healthy, and I love it.<\/p>\n

There are some cross country races, but none of them are Points races. It\u2019d be cool if one of the Van Cortlandt races were a Points race and everyone actually went up there.<\/p>\n

One hundred percent\u2026. I like [the Club Points series], but I think that it could go a bit further. And that\u2019s something that I miss about London, the cross country running.<\/p>\n

What were your initial goals in your post-grad running, whether certain races or distances, and how have those goals evolved through the years?<\/p>\n

Yeah, I guess at the beginning I just wanted to consistently score for Central Park [Track Club], and I was inspired by the people that I was training with to just try and be better than them. This is the Ryan Archers of this world and the Victor Palumbos and the Eddie Mulders back in the day. All these guys were really good, and I just wanted to beat them every day. Whatever races they were doing, I\u2019d just try to do the same.<\/p>\n

I was never really chasing a time. I wasn\u2019t ever really interested in doing that\u2026. Just be on the scene, make a name for yourself, run as many races as you can\u20145ks, mile races, 10ks and halves and everything. A lot of local races. I ventured out a little bit to Philadelphia and did Broad Street and the half marathon there.<\/p>\n

But then over time, I realized that the marathon is just so important for everybody in the U.S\u2026.. So I quickly realized that it\u2019s worth trying to concentrate intensely on that distance for a period of time, and try to be as good as you can. And then I just thought, \u2018I\u2019ll try and string together as many good performances at the New York City Marathon as I can.\u2019 So that became the goal for a little bit, and everything else was just kind of supplementary to that. I continued to race because I enjoy it, the local races around New York. I used those as motivation, and as opportunities to train toward being as fit as I could for the New York City Marathon.<\/p>\n

These days, I don\u2019t really have a goal. I feel like I\u2019m kind of over the hill. But every year I would like to try to be in the top 10 for Central Park Track Club, scoring for the club at Team Champs. I\u2019m not chasing times anymore, but I\u2019m just kind of trying to arrest my decline as much as possible.<\/p>\n

Any favorite running or racing memories that stand out?<\/p>\n

Yeah, definitely the \u201921 [New York City Marathon], the one I ran in the pro field with Dave [Fitzmaurice]. That was really good, and we trained all together. So that\u2019s a very fond memory. I actually have a picture framed in my apartment of the two of us completely isolated from the rest of the pro field, as you would expect, running over the Queensboro Bridge. It\u2019s quite spectacular.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got some good memories as well of racing back in London\u2014the days of doing cross country and getting ever so muddy, but coming out and succeeding with the team.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, in New York, I think probably PRs. You just always feel so happy when you do PRs. I used to do a race called Healthy Kidney, a 10k around the park, which I really liked\u2026. I think that\u2019s where I did my 10k PB. I also just remember that interval in time of being so fit, and you feel on top of the world. It\u2019s a beautiful feeling, so I\u2019d probably put that in there as well.<\/p>\n

The pro field experience\u2014some people maybe stay with the pack for a little longer, others are alone after 200 meters. Curious if you can touch on your overall experience there, and any favorite memories on that front?<\/p>\n

Yeah, certainly the latter. I told my parents I was running in the pro field and that there would be a camera, and so they recorded the video, and they showed me how I dropped off the rest of the pack like 400 meters across the Staten Island bridge, and it\u2019s just myself and Dave at the back of the group. But I always knew that that would be the case.<\/p>\n

I believe that maybe \u201921 was the first year where the pro men had basically a different start to the mass start. I think up to that point, everybody went together. So I was very daunted by the prospect of being alone and starting two minutes ahead of the entire rest of the field. To be honest I was very hesitant to accept the offer from the Road Runners, as generous as it was. But Dave encouraged me to do it, and we went together.<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t regret it at all. I don\u2019t look back and think I shouldn\u2019t have done that. It\u2019s a super cool experience. I still have the bib with my name on it, and some pictures. I remember meeting Bekele at the start line, and attending the hotel briefings and stuff. It felt very special, and I look back on it now very proud that I did it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Benjamin at the 2021 New York City Marathon<\/p>\n

Unfortunately in \u201922, when I also ran in the pro field, the time wasn\u2019t particularly great because of the weather. But I\u2019m still happy that I managed to gut it out. That time, I did it with a fellow called Luis Porto. So on those two occasions, I\u2019m just very proud\u2014that represents probably the pinnacle of my running career, and it\u2019s just a cool stat now to tell people that I did it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen you running with the stroller around Central Park. How has your training and running had to adjust since having kids and starting a family?<\/p>\n

Yeah, probably since the end of \u201922, beginning of \u201923, things changed a lot for me. I actually got a diagnosis of diabetes, so that took me a little bit of time to figure out how to continue to run and manage that condition. And then I had a kid as well, my first, in the middle of \u201923, so I didn\u2019t really race a lot from then on.<\/p>\n

But once the kid got big enough, I leaned into these stroller runs and ended up really liking them, and fitting them in as part of my daily routine. My kid at the time was attending a daycare in Brooklyn, so for maybe the \u201924 marathon, I would often get pretty decent training when the kid would sleep, all the way down the West Side Highway, smashing it down with the stroller, overtaking everybody. It didn\u2019t really hold me back that much. With being busy, being a father and a full-time job, it just absolutely made sense, because it was so time-efficient to do it.<\/p>\n

I only do that maybe once or twice a week. Otherwise, the other major change with having kids was just the early morning starts\u2026. A lot of my long runs started on Sundays at 5:30 in the morning. I\u2019d go to Harlem Hill and just run eight, 10 laps of Harlem Hill, and try to get home for 7am, and try to be alert enough to be active and engaged with my kid for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n

So I think it just kind of made me a bit tougher, and made me not overthink the training as much as I did. I just realized that you still need to put in a lot of work, and you need a lot of aerobic training. And so by whatever means I managed to get that, stroller run or otherwise, I was just very happy to do it.<\/p>\n

Are you doing workouts with the stroller too? I\u2019ve seen you ripping past me with the stroller.<\/p>\n

No, I think that\u2019s just in my nature. I never do workouts with the stroller, but I never run easy. I think everybody who\u2019s ever run in a group with me is always like, \u2018Ben is a pace pusher,\u2019 which is definitely a negative trait of mine. Because I don\u2019t have such an expansive budget for good training, I try to maximize the gains\u2014maybe this is not very scientific at all\u2014by going out and running a little bit harder, or trying to run a bit of a harder terrain or something, when I do get the chance to be out.<\/p>\n

So if you see me smashing by with the stroller, it\u2019s not me doing a workout. It\u2019s me just running a moderately faster pace\u2014not an easy run. I try never really to do too many easy runs.<\/p>\n

What makes the New York City running community special to you, or what\u2019s your favorite part of the New York City running community?<\/p>\n

I touched upon it before, I think the competition\u2014Team Champs, and the points scoring. I really enjoy the competitive nature of how it is, and seeing so many Type A personalities just continue to defy age and defy expectations. I take a lot of inspiration from the people that I see running around there.<\/p>\n

And then also, the support that you get in the New York City Marathon is just crazy. It\u2019s so loud. My eardrums burst every time I run that race. So that\u2019s very special, the people come out so enthusiastic for the runners all the time.<\/p>\n

What life lessons have you gotten from running over the years, or ways that running has helped in other areas of your life?<\/p>\n

I think I gravitate toward runners and people that do sports at a high level, just generally in life, because I think it teaches you discipline, and it teaches you to be hard, to suffer and be uncomfortable a little bit. And I think those are positive characteristics in people. So I definitely think that the suffering that you get from running at times makes you a better person for doing it, and those hardships and that suffering you can draw upon in the rest of your life to make you a better person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think that the suffering that you get from running at times makes you a better person for doing it\u201d<\/p>\n

Life lessons\u2014maybe just enjoy the simple things. I\u2019m not anybody that runs with music. No headphones, no phone or anything. So often I just go out to the bridle path, run around, and just enjoy the birds and the sunrise and the scenery, and the company and camaraderie that you get from meeting people there. Just to enjoy being outside and enjoying the simple things is something that running brings, and I don\u2019t think that you get that so much with anything else.<\/p>\n

Do you think there\u2019s an underrated race in the New York City area that more people should be doing?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a well-known race, but I think it could be even better, is Team Champs. I think the attitude that a lot of people I\u2019ve spoken to is like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s the middle of the season, it\u2019s not good for me, it\u2019s too hot,\u2019 people find excuses. But I feel like it should be positioned at a time of the year, or positioned as a race, that\u2019s the kind of defining\u2014it\u2019s a big deal, it kind of defines who\u2019s the best running club, who are the best runners.<\/p>\n

So when Ryan Kutch<\/a> went and won it the last couple of years, personally, I was so happy for him. That\u2019s a huge moment. And when Brooklyn Track Club won the race, congrats to them. They kind of established themselves as the best team and the one to chase. And I think that there should be even more prominence, and more celebrations of the performances that everybody does in that race. So even though it\u2019s already relatively prominent on the calendar, I feel like it should be a focus race for everybody in New York City\u2026.<\/p>\n

They should up the stakes on it, not just slot it in the middle of the year. They do double the points for it, which is already good, to encourage people to give it a bit more. But this year, finally, a lot of really good people turned up, and I was so happy to see that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Benjamin Toomer\u2019s fondest running memories is competing in the club cross country scene in London after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-367739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367739","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=367739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}