Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Rob Simmelkjaer, NYRR Chief Executive Officer interview

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Rob Simmelkjaer, NYRR Chief Executive Officer interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So, Curtis, as you know, it's a big year for
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the TCS New York City Marathon as we celebrate the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: 50th anniversary of the first Five Borough Marathon. So joining
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  Speaker 1: us now is Rob Similcare. He is the CEO of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the New York City Roadrunners. He's been working around the clock.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: That's the organization, by the way, the Roadrunners, behind TCS.
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  Speaker 1: the TCS New York City Marathon. Hey, Rob, thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us. What does this milestone anniversary mean for the race,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: mean for the city, and everyone who was a part
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  Speaker 1: of the incredible history?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. It's great to be with you again. Thanks
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  Speaker 2: for being with us.
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  Speaker 3: And we wanted to make a really big deal of
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  Speaker 3: celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Five Borough New York
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  Speaker 3: City Marathon. And it's been really great. We've seen how
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  Speaker 3: people have embraced it. Because the city loves it. It's
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  Speaker 3: the best day of the year in New York City.
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  Speaker 3: The idea of a five borough marathon, it may seem
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  Speaker 3: obvious now, but back in 1975 and 76, when they
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: were kind of cooking this idea up and trying to
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  Speaker 3: get the city on board with it, it was a
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  Speaker 3: kind of a crazy idea. No city, no big city
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  Speaker 3: had ever really done anything like this. Boston had the
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  Speaker 3: Boston Marathon for sure.
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  Speaker 2: But that's a little bit of a different situation.
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  Speaker 3: The Boston Marathon starts out way out of Boston, outside
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  Speaker 3: the city in the suburbs, and gradually works its way in.
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  Speaker 3: But there had never been a city the scale of
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  Speaker 3: New York that did a street marathon like this. The
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  Speaker 3: marathon used to do loops in Central Park in the
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  Speaker 3: years before it moved to the five boroughs.
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  Speaker 2: So we're celebrating the.
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  Speaker 3: People who had the idea originally, Ted Corbett, the original
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  Speaker 3: president of New York Roadrunners and an Olympic marathoner himself.
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  Speaker 3: He was the first to really say, what if we
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  Speaker 3: made this a five borough marathon? But others thought it
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  Speaker 3: was crazy. Then you had Percy Sutton, who was the
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  Speaker 3: Manhattan borough president at the time. He heard the idea
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: and said, actually, I think we can make this happen.
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  Speaker 3: And he had the political connections to go to the mayor,
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  Speaker 3: Abe Beam, at the time to pitch this idea.
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  Speaker 2: And Mayor Beam said, you know what? I think we
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  Speaker 2: can do this.
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  Speaker 3: At the time, Larry, that they agreed to do it
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  Speaker 3: in 76, it was going to be a one-time thing
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  Speaker 3: to celebrate the bicentennial of the United States.
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  Speaker 2: So this wasn't even meant to be an every year thing.
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  Speaker 2: But it turned out to be so special that they
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  Speaker 2: did it again and again.
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  Speaker 3: And the other, you know, what we call the trailblazers
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  Speaker 3: were George Spitz, who kind of had the political connections.
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  Speaker 2: George Hirsch, who's still with us.
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  Speaker 3: The only one of the pioneers of the trailblazers who's
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: still with us. who helped get the publicity and helped
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: raise the money for it. And then, of course, Fred LeBeau,
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  Speaker 3: who was the longtime race director of this as well.
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  Speaker 1: And everybody knows about the marathon and how important it
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  Speaker 1: is to not only the racing community, but to New
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  Speaker 1: York City and how it's grown to be the biggest
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  Speaker 1: of the marathons.
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  Speaker 2: A global event.
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  Speaker 1: But what people don't realize, I think, or at least
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  Speaker 1: us in the media don't talk about it enough, is
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  Speaker 1: how much money you've raised Because of your partners, and
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  Speaker 1: I understand this is the 20th anniversary of the official
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  Speaker 1: charity partner program. So if you can talk about how
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  Speaker 1: people can get involved in that and also what it
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  Speaker 1: has meant to the marathon. Well, let's start with how
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  Speaker 1: much money you've raised. It's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: It's become a huge part of the marathon every single year.
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  Speaker 2: And you're right.
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  Speaker 3: This is the 20th anniversary of the TCS New York
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  Speaker 3: City Marathon Charity Program. And we decided one of the
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: things we wanted to do to commemorate this anniversary was
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  Speaker 3: to go really big when it comes to fundraising. And
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  Speaker 3: so this year, for the first time ever, we set
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  Speaker 3: a goal of raising $ 100 million for charities in this event.
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  Speaker 3: We've got over 650 nonprofit organizations, a heavy focus on
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  Speaker 3: New York-based charities, especially this year. And we're thrilled to
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  Speaker 3: be able to report that we're hitting that goal. We
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: just got a report the other day, and we are
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  Speaker 3: going to be able to hit that goal. We've actually
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: already crossed that threshold of $ 100 million raised for charities
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  Speaker 3: this year. So it's an incredible accomplishment. We've got about
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  Speaker 3: 15,000 runners in the race this year who are putting
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  Speaker 3: meaning to their miles by raising money for this multitude
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  Speaker 3: of causes. And if you're interested in being a part
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  Speaker 3: of supporting that, you can either go find a runner
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  Speaker 3: who you know is running for a cause or Go
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  Speaker 3: to our.
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  Speaker 2: Website at nyr.org. You'll see all the different charities.
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  Speaker 3: One of those charities is Team for Kids, which is
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  Speaker 3: our very own charity at New York Roadrunners that helps
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  Speaker 3: us put on all the free youth events and all
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  Speaker 3: the programs we have for kids and adults, including this
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  Speaker 3: past weekend, the weekend before the marathon, when we had
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  Speaker 3: almost 5,000 kids in all five boroughs running in the
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  Speaker 3: TCS New York City Marathon Kids Kickoff, a totally free
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  Speaker 3: running event for all these kids and families. that was
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  Speaker 3: really helping us create that next generation of marathon runners.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you talked about the hundred million for this year,
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  Speaker 1: but you've been doing this for a while and it's
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  Speaker 1: grown every single year. The number, the amount of money
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  Speaker 1: you've raised since this started is astronomical. And my understanding
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  Speaker 1: is it's 700 million.
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  Speaker 2: Is that right? Yeah, I think that's right. And it's,
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  Speaker 2: it's grown every year.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's, it's been, it's just a huge part
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  Speaker 3: of what has, I say this marathon has changed the world.
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  Speaker 2: It really has changed the world. It has changed countless lives.
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  Speaker 3: We've had over a million people finish this race over
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  Speaker 3: the years since it started.
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  Speaker 2: Those lives were changed.
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  Speaker 3: And think of the lives that were changed by all
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: that fundraising as well. The nonprofits that were able to
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  Speaker 3: take that money and turn it into helping people in
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  Speaker 3: a myriad of different ways. There are organizations that are
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  Speaker 3: fighting disease, there are organizations that are helping people get educated,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: that are helping with homelessness and other social issues. Everything
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  Speaker 3: you can think of is represented within that group of
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  Speaker 3: 650 nonprofits we've got in the program this year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the reasons the marathon is so special
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  Speaker 1: to New York, and I didn't realize this, and thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for allowing 710WOR and myself and everybody
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  Speaker 1: here To be a part of the marathon, the small
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: part of the marathon. It's when I'm in a hotel
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: staying overnight for the next morning and I get to
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  Speaker 1: meet all the people around the world that have saved
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: all year for this moment. This is a pinnacle for them.
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  Speaker 2: So you have made.
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  Speaker 1: Dreams come true for tens of thousands of people and
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: it's still growing. How many people are running this year?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: We expect, Larry, about 60,000 finishers this year. We're always
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: waiting to see how things play out with who cancels.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: You know, people are canceling right up to the last
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: day before the marathon. So we track that number. But
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: right now we're expecting over 60,000. That'll be the first
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: time in the history of the event.
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  Speaker 1: Rob Similcare, New York Roadrunners Chief Executive Officer, the organization
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  Speaker 1: that puts on the TCS New York City Marathon. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for your time.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.