Road races across the five boroughs reflect the melting pot that is New York City. The ethnic and physical diversity that is represented epitomizes the aspirational concepts of equality and opportunity that this country theoretically holds as two of its foundational principles.
The RBC Brooklyn Half, sponsored by the New York Road Runners and held this past Saturday, was a microcosm of people being accepted and embraced simply for who they are, irrespective of the color of their skin, religious faith, or disability. Close to 28,500 athletes took part in the 13.1 mile race that began in Prospect Park and ended in Coney Island, which also featured the Boardwalk Kids run, where 1,200 youth from ages two to 18 trekked along Coney Island’s famous boardwalk.
While many runners enjoyed the picture-perfect day, devoid of stress caused by attempting to achieve a specific finish time, others were striving for personal best marks and high placings. In the end, Mulgeta Birhanu Feyissa took the men’s race in 1:04:57, just ahead of his West Side Runners –– a Manhattan based running club –– teammate Tilihun Ayele Tariku, who clocked 1:05:11.
Felicia Pasadyn, in her RBC Half debut, won the women’s race in 1:15:37, besting last year’s champion Kim Conley, who competed in the 5,000 meters at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Galo Vasquez of the Westchester Track Club, who won the 2025 United Airlines NYC Half in March, took the nonbinary division in 1:13:18.
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) served as both the exclusive title partner and exclusive financial services and investment banking partner of the event for the fourth consecutive year. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, RBC donated $1 to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, for each social media post using #RBCBrooklynHalf during race week.
Sadly, Charles Rogers, a 31-year-old former defensive back for the University of Minnesota, collapsed eight miles into the race at Ocean Parkway and 18th Avenue. CPR was administered, and then Rogers was transported to Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.