McGolrick Marathon in Greenpoint canceled, organizers hope to reschedule

Update: Organizers of the McGolrick Marathon, described in the story below, have canceled the race, according to an email sent to participants on Friday afternoon.

“The Parks Department has asked us to cancel the McGolrick Marathon,” it read. “We’ve chosen to cooperate with them and will work on rescheduling the event.”

Organizers did not elaborate on why the event was canceled. They apologized to runners and spectators and said they would follow up with participants about “donations and next steps.”

“Please note that the blunder is on us and not [North Brooklyn] Mutual Aid,” the email continued. Organizers had planned to donate proceeds from the marathon to the local nonprofit.

Original story:

The McGolrick Marathon is a new event in the city’s sports scene. It's a bit different than, say, the New York City Marathon, which spans 26.2 miles across all five boroughs. This unofficial race could last for more than 40 miles — but the course only covers a few blocks and never leaves a single park.

It started, as many bold ideas do, over rounds of beer.

At Minnows bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, three friends who’d met through a run club — Phil Shamet, Oran Bambrick and Ben Tweedy — joked about hosting a long-distance race around their neighborhood's Monsignor McGolrick Park.

“It seemed like a natural place to suffer,” Bambrick said.

After months of bar talk, they committed to a race date of Jan. 25, this coming Saturday.

At 9 a.m., participating runners will cover about 4 miles, or 10 laps of the park's interior path. Once they finish, they’ll be able to rest in the park before running 10 more laps at the start of the next hour, meaning those who run faster will get more rest time.

This process will repeat throughout the day until participants drop out from fatigue or boredom. The last runner left to complete a segment will be the winner and will go home with bragging rights and a trophy. Organizers plan to donate the money raised from the $10 entry fee to North Brooklyn Mutual Aid.

When they shared the race description on social media, the trio figured a few friends might show. Little did they know they were about to host one of the hottest events in town — at least in the world of hyper-niche endurance sports.

Evan Gregory, an artist and musician who lives in Greenpoint, is one of the 75 runners who signed up for the McGolrick Marathon before the organizers decided to cap it so as not to block foot traffic too much.

He plans to start at a slower pace (aiming to run roughly 9-10 minutes per mile) to conserve his legs. But, as the day progresses, he might speed up so he has time to get to a bodega between segments.

“A lot of my strategy centers around, ‘When am I eating a bacon, egg and cheese?'” Gregory said.

Andrew Beasley was convinced to sign up for the race at a friend’s birthday party. Newer to distance running, Beasley calculated that if he lasted four hours, it would be the longest he’d ever run in a day. Though the race is sure to be a physical and mental challenge, he’s drawn to its social element.

“It sounds a little crazy. It sounds like it could get boring," Beasley said. "But I think it’s going to be a great way to meet new people and have fun running an insane amount of miles on a Saturday."

Another race hopeful, Matt White, is no stranger to repetitive running. He’s the designer of the Williamsburg Bridge Marathon, a race that this year involved 12.5 laps out and back over the 7,308-foot bridge. In August, for the race’s second year, White asked a computer to randomly pick a number between 10 and 40 miles to decide how long it would be. The kicker: Participants wouldn’t know the number until midway through the race.

White had programmed a text message to go out exactly halfway through the race (based on a pace of 9 minutes per mile). The longer participants went without a text, the longer they knew they’d have to run. When they learned they’d need to last for 31.25 miles, “they were pissed,” White said.

Still, a handful finished the race — including one man who ran it in 4 hours and 34 minutes while wearing a weighted vest.

White said he prefers long races that span small distances since they make it easier to focus on the task at hand without distractions. He has travel plans this Saturday, but said he’s willing to push them for the chance at the McGolrick crown.

“I’m going to try to move my flight. I want to do this race so bad,” White said.

Shamet, Bambrick, and Tweedy have vowed to stay in the park until the race ends. The only question is when that will happen.

“We initially thought this would be a 5-round, 6-round thing, but I think I fully expect it to go 10 to 12 rounds, at least," Shamet said. That would mean the race lasts upward of 40 miles and goes well into the likely freezing evening.

“We’ve been talking about what incentives we can throw in to get people to stop running at some point,” Tweedy said.

And if runners are willing to go until late in the night?

Race organizers plan to keep the event going until only one person is left. The park closes at 10 p.m