Overview The New York Harbor Oyster Classic is in its 10th year, and it’s one of those races with a genuinely distinctive setup: a 5K on Governors Island, accessible only by ferry, with the Manhattan skyline and New York Harbor as your backdrop. Governors Island is car-free, scenic, and completely different from any road race…
Overview The OMAC May Day 5K takes place at Main Beach in East Hampton, one of the more scenic race settings you’ll find on Long Island. Main Beach is a wide open Atlantic-facing beach, and a morning 5K there in early May has a certain quality to it — the season hasn’t started yet, the…
Overview The Unique Abilities 5K is hosted by Preston’s Path Foundation and takes place at Cooper’s Beach in Southampton — one of the Hamptons’ best-known beaches and a genuinely scenic spot for a race. The foundation supports individuals with unique abilities (including autism and other developmental differences), and the event has a welcoming, community-first feel…
Overview The Sea Cliff Fire Department puts on this 5K every year to raise money for one of Nassau County’s only fully volunteer Fire and EMS departments. That’s not a marketing line, it actually means something: the people who show up to protect Sea Cliff do it on their own time, for free, and this…
The EJ Autism 4 Mile is now in its 21st year and it’s one of the most established community races on Long Island. It honors Eric and Jack, sons of the race’s founders, both diagnosed with autism, and the EJ Autism Foundation uses the event to raise money for programs and schools that support kids…
This one is a community 5K through Brooklyn Bridge Park that benefits the Dock Street School’s ASD Horizon Program, which supports students with autism spectrum disorder. It’s a straightforward, no-frills event: show up, run the piers, support a good cause. The setting is hard to complain about. The course is an out-and-back along the Brooklyn…
Overview The Patchogue Family YMCA 5K is the opening leg of the YMCA of Long Island 5K Series, a multi-race series that also stops in Huntington, Glen Cove, Bay Shore, and East Hampton. It runs at Shorefront Park in Patchogue — a waterfront park on the Great South Bay with a genuinely nice setting for…
Overview Katy’s Courage is a 5K in Sag Harbor that raises money for local scholarships and cancer research. It’s organized through the Katy’s Courage foundation and benefits causes with direct community impact. The race starts on Water Street in the heart of Sag Harbor Village and finishes with the harbor right there, which makes the…
Overview The East Rockaway Education Foundation 5K is a community fundraiser for the East Rockaway Education Foundation, which supports local schools and educational programs. It runs at Hewlett Point Beach in East Rockaway — a waterfront park setting that’s a step up from your average road 5K backdrop. The race is straightforward and welcoming. First…
Overview The US Coffee 4 Mile is a charity run along the Long Beach Boardwalk benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, specifically Team McIntyre. US Coffee, the local sponsor, donates all proceeds to LLS cancer research, so this one has a clear and genuine purpose behind it. The course runs the length of the Long…