Front Runners New York History & Archives Project
Welcome!
Our mission is to develop an active, dynamic, inspirational, useful, and engaging resource that is:
A comprehensive historical record of the Club from its creation to the present day
An archive of important records, documents, and materials (both written and photographic/visual, as well as spoken material)
A place to tell our Club's story and the stories of the members of our club to future generations of Front Runners.
Message from Founder Mike McMahon
The History & Archives Project (H&A) was established in 2014, with the encouragement and endorsement of the 2014 FRNY Board, under former FRNY President Dave Lin. This sub-site went live (launched) Pride Week 2015. The project has grown and continues to evolve under the support of subsequent Boards including those under former President Steve Waldon. I wish to acknowledge that this Project continues to be truly a team effort and has been made possible only through the hard work of some extremely dedicated volunteers, including our original web-expert, Anthony Cocciolo. I wish to take this opportunity to thank each of the 2025 H&A Team members for his/her/their contributions:
Team Leads: David Dogan; Sybil Lamarque; David Laurence; Tim Thompson; Sean O’Mara; Katrina Amaro, Chris D'Angelo and Kevin Faaborg; and our Volunteers: Ben Harrison; Luke Holifield; Steven Honovic; Warren Li; Trey Bedingfield; James Fama, Amol Goyal; Lisa Teague; Bob Wei; Andrew Ballard; and Chris Miller (2025 Board Liaison).
—Mike
FRNY’s Origin Story
Front Runners New York was founded in October 1979 by Malcolm Robinson and named for Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner, published in 1974.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the club was in its infancy, with a roster of only 35 members the first year. Malcolm Robinson's and Steve Gerben's leadership stabilized and built the Club’s membership to more than 400 by 1985. FRNY members Harold Brueland and David Pitches were the first Front Runners members to race for FRNY at the New York City Marathon in 1977. Guy Zelenak and the early club boards kept very good records, and photos of club members and other materials from that time are now part of the FRNY archives.
From the late 1980s to the 1990s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic greatly affected the Club's members. Despite that fact, FRNY created the Gay Pride Run in 1982. The name of the Run evolved over time to Lesbian & Gay Pride Run and then changed once more to the current name, "LGBT Pride Run.” This annual race has been traditionally held on the last Saturday in June since 1982. Moreover, the Club has added a few other annual traditions - the FRNY Track Meet and Cross Country Meet.
