Volunteer Joanne Navarra is celebrating 50 years of service at the New York City Marathon, serving as the head volunteer at the start village at Fort Wadsworth. Her tenure coincides with the 50th anniversary of the race's five-borough course, which sends participants through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. Navarra began volunteering in 1976 when the starting line moved from Central Park to Staten Island as part of the U.S. Bicentennial celebration.
The marathon has grown since Navarra first joined, expanding from 2,090 participants with a $5 entry fee in 1976 to approximately 60,000 runners expected for the race on Sunday, Nov. 1. Navarra and her late husband, Victor, a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lieutenant, were tasked by race co-founder Fred Lebow to manage the start operation after their first three years of volunteering. Following Victor's death in 2007 from cancer attributed to his service at Ground Zero, Navarra has continued the tradition to honor his legacy.
In her current role, Navarra oversees the construction of the start village, conducts volunteer logistical meetings, and manages the distribution of trash and donation bags. On race day, she monitors the starting line from the bucket of an FDNY truck positioned 85 feet in the air. While Navarra manages the start, other long-term volunteers like Barbara Rubenstein, who was 91 during the 2021 race, support the event at the finish line. Rubenstein, a member of the New York Road Runners Volunteer Hall of Fame, has served for over three decades, offering encouragement to runners at the end of the 26.2-mile course.
Volunteers like Navarra and Rubenstein provide the backbone for New York Road Runners (NYRR), the non-profit organization that produces the race. Participants or spectators may notice the result of these volunteer efforts through the coordination of medical tents, finish-line support, and organized wave starts. The presence of long-term volunteers also establishes a historical continuity for an event that draws international participants, some of whom report returning annually specifically to see familiar faces.
The event utilizes volunteer labor to manage logistics, including FDNY-assisted monitoring and multi-agency coordination. The next New York City Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. Volunteer registration for the 2026 event is currently open.