Seaside Park Semper Five Runners Invited To Run In 9/11 Memorial Event For Free

Runners who were registered to run in the Seaside Semper Five 5K on Saturday have been invited to participate in the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers 5K this weekend in New York City.

"All Seaside Semper Five registrants are officially invited to participate in this weekend’s Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk, Sunday 09/25/16, free-of-charge!" Seaside Semper Five organizers announced on Facebook.

Thousands of participants, spectators and volunteers were expected for the race Saturday before it was canceled when a bomb exploded in a trash can along the race route. An Elizabeth man who the FBI has named as a suspect in the Seaside Park bombing and in a bombing in the Chelsea section of Brooklyn on Saturday night was apprehended Monday morning in Linden.

The race, which was marking its third year, raises funds for the MARSOC Foundation, which assists Marines and sailors who have been injured in Special Operations Command duty, as well as aiding the families of those killed.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers 5K commemorates the actions of Siller, a firefighter who was off-duty when he heard the radio transmissions about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. When he couldn't get to downtown by truck, donned his 60-pound pack of gear and ran through the Battery Tunnel all the way to the Twin Towers to help. Siller gave his life, along with nearly 400 other first responders that day.

Runners who were registered for the Seaside Semper Five 5K who wish to run in the Tunnel to Towers race, scheduled for Sunday, should email their names to T2Tregistration@seasidesemperfive.org.

Runners should send that email by 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, Semper Five organizers said.