Dozens of firefighters and their families drove from Long Island to Ground Zero on Wednesday to pay tribute to the 343 New York City Fire Department colleagues who died on Sept. 11, 2001.
Led by dozens of cyclists carrying a giant American flag, the enthusiastic group took nearly nine hours to complete the grueling 34.3-mile journey through three boroughs and part of Long Island.
“We're here, baby,” said organizer and firefighter Etan Bratt at the reflecting pool next to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. “We groaned and we tried hard and we did it. We all did it. It's teamwork.”
“Never forget,” Blatt added.
The marathon was the fourth annual event organized by the 34.3 Foundation, a charity that supports fire departments and the families of New York City Fire Department employees killed in the line of duty.
The enthusiastic group, wearing matching red T-shirts, set off in Long Beach at 8:47 a.m., just one minute after a moment of silence for the first plane hitting the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Runners ran through the Rockaways and the length of Brooklyn, crossed the Manhattan Bridge and arrived at the 9/11 Memorial where they joined hundreds of others for the annual ceremony.
They made several stops at fire stations along the way and observed five minutes of silence to commemorate milestones in the national tragedy: the crashes of Flights 175, 77 and 93, and the collapse of the North and South Towers.
They also carried a wooden American flag sign, which they presented to the Hook and Ladder Company3 in Union Square, just four miles from the finish line at One World Trade Center.
“The boys are doing well, it's a great team effort, the younger guys are definitely pushing the younger guys harder than the younger guys,” Blatt said as he documented the gruelling day-long trip on social media.
The now annual event is 30 percent longer than a marathon, and in 2021, veteran runner Blatt came up with the plan to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people.
Over the next two years, several other firefighters joined Blatt, and the event was a huge success at its fourth annual.
Since then, the annual marathon has evolved into a year-round charity event that raises funds for the FDNY Fire Department and the families of those killed in the line of duty.
