You are reading

LIC Waterfront 5K Returns as in-Person Event, Registration Now Open

Runners leaving the starting line at the LIC 5K run in 2019 (Photo by Jeff Walters Photography)

June 16, 2021 By Michael Dorgan

Ready, set, go!

The Long Island City Waterfront 5K run/walk is coming back as an in-person event this year.

The race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 9 a.m. with hundreds of residents expected to come together to take part. The in-person event was replaced with a virtual run last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“We could not be more excited to host this much-anticipated event,” said Rob Basch, president of Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, a local non-profit group that is co-organizing the race with the Woodside-Sunnyside Runners and Run LIC.

“The last 15 months have been challenging but getting our community together for a fun and healthy event will be very uplifting.”

All proceeds from the event will go to the HPPC—which was formed 23 years ago—originally as Friends of Gantry State Park— with the goal to take care of community parks, trees and natural areas.

The event typically brings more than 1,500 runners to the Long Island City waterfront each year, as well as hundreds of kids who participate in children’s dashes along Center Boulevard.

The 5K race, now in its sixth year, will begin on Center Boulevard and Borden Avenue.

Runners will go through the commercial district on Vernon Boulevard all the way over to Queensbridge Park and then loop back to the starting line by passing through Gantry Plaza State Park and along Hunters Point South Park.

LIC 5K Course Map

The fastest three men and women will be presented with medals.

The popular children’s dashes will take place on Center Boulevard immediately after the 5K run is completed. Ribbons will be awarded to all children who take part in the dash.

Sabrina Chin, a leader with Run LIC, said the race is the perfect opportunity for residents to come out and run to show their appreciation for the parks.

“We are incredibly lucky to have such great park[s] in our backyard and are looking forward to the sense of pride, accomplishment, and community in the air at the finish line.”

Registration for this year’s 5K is currently capped at 500 people. However, the cap is likely to be raised over the coming months as the city reopens.

Organizers will implement all active CDC and New York State COVID-19 guidelines for the occasion.

The event will cost $25 for adults and $15 for children for those who register before Aug. 18. Prices will increase after that date.

Registrants will receive a limited-edition race T-shirt and free swag-bag items. Name-customized bibs for children and adults will also be available to those who register online while supplies last.

All participants will receive their results online and there will be photographs and video of them crossing the finish line.

For sponsorship opportunities, please e-mail casey@hunterspointparks.org with “LIC 5K Sponsorship” in the subject line.

To register for the event, click here.

Children’s Dash Photo (2019): Jeff Walters Photography

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Repeat hate crime offender charged in anti-Muslim subway attack in Forest Hills: DA

A Southeast Queens man is being held without bail after he was criminally charged with assault in the first degree as a hate crime and other charges for allegedly punching and kicking a Muslim woman on an E train in Forest Hills during the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 18.

Naved Durrni, 34, of 106th Avenue in Jamaica, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday and additionally charged with aggravated harassment in the first and second degrees.

Hate Crimes Task Force investigating bomb threats against Mamdani: NYPD

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force launched a probe into multiple death threats made against Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani after his district office at 24-08 32nd St. in Astoria received four expletive-filled phone voicemails, on various dates, making threatening anti-Muslim statements by an unknown individual, including a threat to blow up his car.

The calls were made from an untraceable number and labeled the mayoral candidate a “terrorist who is not welcome in New York or America” in a message phoned in on Wednesday morning.

Seven teens indicted for attempted murder in brutal Kissena Park gang attack on two girls: DA

A Queens grand jury indicted seven teenagers for attempted murder, gang assault, robbery, and other crimes for an attack on two girls inside Kissena Park in Flushing in early May.

The defendants, who are all 17 years old, were variously arraigned in Queens Supreme Court between June 4 and Wednesday in two separate 25-count indictments with two counts of attempted murder in the second degree. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison.