The annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run and Walk in honor of fallen FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller, who died on September 11, 2001, returned to the streets of New York City Sunday.
WABC 7 was there for the event, which retraces the route Siller took when he abandoned his truck and ran through the Battery Tunnel (now called the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) towards the Workd Trade Center towers on 9/11.
Thousands participated in the event, which is a tribute to the 343 firefighters and first responders who were killed on 9/11, as well as the service members who died during the war on terror.
"First you feel hot, because that tunnel has no breathing," participant Scott Nokes told WABC 7. "But then when you come out, and there's 343-plus flags, 343-plus firemen and police officers holding pictures of their brothers and sisters that were lost that day."
This year's event also paid a special tribute to the 13 service members lost last year during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Firefighters came from as far as London and France just for the event.
Proceeds benefit the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, supporting first responders and wounded veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Siller's brother Frank set up the foundation, which has raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars helping those affected by 9/11.
