Tunnel to Towers 5K in Southpointe on 9/11 anniversary
Photo courtesy of Tunnel 2 Towers
A group of firefighters line up at the start of the 2019 Tunnel to Towers 5K in New York.
Photo courtesy of Tunnel 2 Towers
Firefighters cross the finish line of the 2019 Tunnel to Towers 5K in New York.
The Tunnel to Towers 5K is coming to Washington County this year on the 20th anniversary of the first time it was run – by a Brooklyn firefighter in full gear who raced on foot three miles through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to get to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Firefighter Stephen Siller, 34, was one of many who died, leaving behind a wife and five children. While his body was never recovered, his siblings and family have kept his memory and bravery alive by establishing the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and 5K that raises money for first responders and their families.
“I reached out to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation because you could see they had events around the country, and I wanted to have an event in the Pittsburgh region as well,” said Lindsay Pecosh, volunteer race director for the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk in Pittsburgh.
Pecosh, of Cecil Township, has no background in military or emergency services, but wanted to get involved when she heard about the foundation last year.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Port Authority decided to play a recording of the names of victims at the World Trade Center, instead of having family members and loved ones read them, as was the tradition for years. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation stepped in on behalf of the families and held its own event, during which people were able to read the names aloud while maintaining social distance.
“This great company stepped in at their own expense to read the names,” Pecosh said. “I was very impressed with that.”
Pecosh decided to help set up a 5K event in the Pittsburgh region and settled on holding it at Southpointe Town Center. She said the day will begin with a ceremony and moment of silence at the exact times the planes struck the towers. The race will follow the service.
“When these events occur in other cities, there are a lot of first responders that come out for it, and they’ll run or walk the 5K in their gear in honor of Stephen,” she said.
Siller had just gotten off his shift that morning. He planned to golf with his brothers, but when the North Tower was struck, he went back to work. He drove as far as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but it had already been shut down for security purposes.
After donning 60-plus pounds of gear, Siller ran the two-mile length of the tunnel, which runs under the East River connecting Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan, then another mile to the World Trade Center, where he made the ultimate sacrifice.
Pecosh said she plans to reach out to all the fire, EMS and police departments in the region to participate in the event.
“Our purpose is to remember the victims of 9/11, to honor the service members who are still with us and to have a sense of community on that day,” Pecosh said.
All the proceeds for the event will go toward the foundation’s many initiatives. The organization has a smart home program that helps remodel or modify the homes of first responders and military personnel who have been catastrophically injured in the line of duty.
The group also helps pay off mortgages or buy new homes for families of fallen first responders or Gold Star families.
Those interested in participating in the race can register as teams or individuals on the foundation’s website, T2T.org. For more information on the event, contact Pecosh at Pittsburgh@tunnel2towers.org.