50-Year Marathon Volunteer Joanne Navarra Celebrates Half-Century at Fort Wadsworth Start Village

As the New York City Marathon prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of its five-borough course on Sunday, Nov. 1, CBS News has profiled Joanne Navarra, who has served as head volunteer at the marathon's start village at Fort Wadsworth for all 50 of those years. Navarra has been welcoming and guiding runners at the start since the race first expanded across the five boroughs in 1976, making her tenure as long as the five-borough course itself. She told CBS News the starting line beats the finish for atmosphere: "It's more exciting than the finish because you have everybody at one time, and it's like an adrenaline rush." In the days before the race, Navarra oversees construction of the start village, runs logistics meetings with volunteers, and organises the distribution of trash and donation bags for corral clean-up. On race day she directs nearly 2,000 volunteers who help guide roughly 60,000 runners through corrals and toward the starting line on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge — all from 85 feet in the air in the bucket of an FDNY truck, despite a lifelong fear of heights. The role carries deep personal meaning: her late husband Victor, a New York City Fire Department lieutenant, ran and volunteered alongside her for decades before dying in 2007 from paranasal sinus cancer linked to his volunteer work at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 attacks. Continuing the tradition is her way of honouring his memory. Navarra says she has no plans to stop. "You don't really see a sad face," she said. "It's just nice to see everybody all together and having a good time."