When nearly 30,000 runners lined up in their corrals for the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon on Saturday, they were among New York Road Runners royalty.
Larry Sillen, 80, first met members of New York Road Runners at a running camp in 1983. He mentioned his new hobby — photographing runners with a point-and-shoot camera — and asked about freelancing for the organization. Someone referred him to a newly formed team for athletes with disabilities.
“I asked if I could do some freelance work for them,” said Sillen. “They asked me if I could take pictures ‘for this team that just started, for people with disabilities.’”
That connection led Sillen to Dick Traum, the first amputee to complete a marathon and the founder of the Achilles Track Club. Traum invited him to photograph the club on 89th Street, launching Sillen’s decades-long involvement as a runner, photographer and course marshal.
Now, Sillen has completed 24 marathons and estimates he’s run about ten Brooklyn Half Marathons. He was inducted into the New York Road Runners Volunteer Hall of Fame earlier this month.
He says it’s the community that keeps him coming back.
“Everyone has one thing in common: the love for running. And once you get older, your times go down. But who cares? I’m still having fun out there,” said Sillen.
Rather than focusing on finish-line victories, Sillen’s photography highlights everyday runners — the ones who show up for local 5Ks, community races and weekly meetups. After each event, he prints and distributes the images, creating a quiet tradition of sharing moments runners didn’t know had been captured.
“At one point, I saw Grete Waitz. I paused and took a picture of her walking with this person who had a disability,” said Sillen. “Later, at the Grete Waitz race, I made an 8-by-10 of the picture. I gave it to her, she looked at it and she gave me a hug. That was a highlight for me.”
In 2018, Sillen’s photography was recognized with the New York Road Runners’ Joe Kleinerman Award for outstanding community service. More than four decades after starting his running journey, he continues to contribute — not just as a runner, but as a dedicated member of the community. He now serves as a course marshal for NYRR, often offering encouragement to runners along the course.
“Joe Kleinerman always said, ‘You see a volunteer, you thank a volunteer,’ so I do that at all the races,” he said. “I thank every single volunteer along the course. And I have fun doing that. When someone says thank you, I feel good that I’m helping them out.”
On Saturday, Sillen ran his fourth consecutive RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon in just over four hours, per official NYRR results. In November, he plans to tackle the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon.
