50 Years at NYC Start: 2,090 Runners Then, 60,000 Now

Joanne Navra has run the start village at the New York City Marathon for 50 years, working since the race first began at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island in 1976. She has stayed in the role since her husband Victor died in 2007, continuing the work they shared for decades.

The marathon's five-borough course marks its 50th anniversary this year. On Oct. 24, 1976, New York City moved the starting line from Central Park to Staten Island as part of the U.S. Bicentennial celebration, sending runners across five bridges through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan.

That year, 2,090 runners entered the race and paid a $5 entry fee. The event was small enough that participants registered in person at Fort Wadsworth. Navra said her husband Victor, a New York City Fire Department lieutenant, wanted to run, and she told him he was out of his mind. She then asked what she would do instead and began volunteering.

About three years later, race co-founder and organizer Fred Lebow asked the couple to manage the entire start area, Navra said. The two worked together on volunteer recruiting, corral organization and directing runners toward the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Navra has also entered the marathon herself several times, volunteering early in the morning before moving to the back of the starting line.

Nearly 60,000 runners are registered for the 26.2-mile race scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 1. By 8:30 a.m. that morning, Navra will be positioned in the bucket of an FDNY truck, 85 feet above the starting line, issuing directions. She has said she dislikes heights and avoids step ladders, but continues the practice because of her husband.

Victor Navra died in 2007 from paranasal sinus cancer, a diagnosis attributed to his volunteer work at ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. After doctors told him he had months to live, he wrote a list of goals. The last item was attending the marathon. He was blind by then and could barely speak, Joanne Navra said, but he attended the race.

"I mean, it was like a passion for him. And he loved the start because it was everybody together," Navra said of her husband.

In the days before this year's race, Navra has overseen construction of the start village, met with volunteers to review race-day logistics and distributed trash and donation bags for corral cleanup. Nearly 2,000 volunteers are expected at the start village on Nov. 1.

Navra said the start offers something the finish line does not. "You know, it's more exciting than the finish because you have everybody at one time, you know, and it's like an adrenaline rush," she said. She also said she never expected to still be volunteering after 50 years, but that she enjoys the work.

Of the volunteers working beside her, Navra said: "You don't really see a sad face. It's just nice to see everybody all together and having a good time."