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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

Note on the News: Video Report on Vic Navarra

Posted January 1st, 2008 at 2:26 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

The local all-news cable channel in New York City, NY1, has a video report posted on their website on Vic Navarra, the retired firefighter who worked as the start coordinator of the ING New York City Marathon for 25 years. To see the report, go to this link:

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=77040

Then click on either “DIAL UP” or “BROAD BAND” to see the report, depending on the speed of your internet connection. The report lasts two minutes and 25 seconds.

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NYC Firefighter & Marathon Coordinator Victor Navarra Succumbs to Cancer at 56

Posted December 31st, 2007 at 10:30 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Victor Navarra, the retired New York City firefighter who was the start coordinator of the ING New York City Marathon for 25 years, died this morning after being in a coma for two days. He was 56 and had suffered from cancer which had begun in his sinuses.

“The more someone gives in life, the harder it is to lose them,” said ING New York City Marathon race director, Mary Wittenberg, in a prepared statement. “Vic was a giver. In every way. Of his time, energy, emotions and passions.”

Although he was retired, Navarra volunteered to work at Ground Zero after the attacks of 9/11 in 2001, spending long hours on “the pile” as the rescue workers called the massive heap of rubble left after the World Trade Center was brought down. In 2005 he was diagnosed with malignant tumors adjacent to his sinuses. Efforts to eradicate the cancer failed, and Navarra’s health was failing in the lead-up to this year’s marathon. Nonetheless, he was still engaged in the planning process and was still at the start of the race despite losing his eyesight to the cancer.
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