Last Friday PS/IS 89 held its seventh annual “Run for Knowledge” race from Wagner to Rockefeller Parks in Battery Park City. Hundreds of students, parents and even a local dentist raced up the B.P.C. esplanade. The ultimate goal was to raise funds for the school library.
At 5 p.m., the low autumn sun washed over anxious children lined up in Wagner Park. Third-grader Cameron Lamser toed the starting line with several other children. “I just feel like running” was his reason for donning a white R4K t-shirt. Second-grader Sophia Delaney said she spends time in the library reading books about horses and first-grader Sydney Park enjoys the “Amelia Bedelia” series of books she finds in the library.
At 5:15, Courtney Brennan, a parent of two at the school, raised a bullhorn, yelled out “Go!” and like a speeding bullet the runners sprinted north. Bringing up the rear were parents and those who chose to make it a walking race. At South Cove the runners were joined briefly by a jogger and a man in a business suit dashing to make the ferry to New Jersey. The race ended at the gazebo in Rockefeller Park, where apples and water bottles were passed out. Asked who in the mass of children had won the race, one parent offered that, “They’re all winners!”
Then it was on to a street fair. Warren St. between North End Ave. and West St. was closed to traffic and filled with carnival rides and even a dunking booth. Inside the school playground children had their faces painted and sang along with a karaoke deejay to songs like Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.”
Parent-volunteer John McClabe estimated the race had raised $15,000 for new books, computers and supplies, with the help of the primary sponsor of the race, the Riverhouse building under construction near the school.
— Jefferson Siegel
