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Middle Village man rides rails to record

By Nathan Duke

Bill Amarosa, a lifelong Middle Village resident, said he has talked about beating the city's previous subway riding record of 26 hours and 21 minutes for nearly 13 years and originally planned to tackle the feat on his own.The transit challenge was rekindled at Amarosa's 10-year high school reunion from Manhattan's Regis High School. Amarosa, who works for a telecommunications carrier in Long Island City, enlisted Michael Boyle, of Staten Island; Stefan Karpinski, of Manhattan; Jason Laska, of Syracuse; and Brooklyn residents Andrew Weir and Brian Brockmeyer at the June reunion.”It was a great opportunity to accomplish something we had planned for so long,” Amarosa said. “It took a little bit longer than we expected, but we still beat the record.”The six riders started out at Queens' Rockaway Park Station just before 3:45 p.m. last Thursday and ended in the Bronx around 4:30 p.m. Friday. They visited each of the 468 city stations as well as passing through 111 stations more than once.The group then contacted the Guinness Book of World Records to report their 24-hour-and-54-minute ride after completing the challenge, Amarosa said. The riders only took four bathroom breaks during the course of the ride and switched trains 75 times, he said. Friends and family, who met with the riders to bring them food and coffee during the course of the challenge, met them at the end of the No. 2 line in the Bronx Friday to cheer them on, Amarosa said.”We were tired and falling asleep and just trying to do our jobs or noting all of the stations and times and everything, but we pushed through it,” he said.Amarosa said a few funny incidents took place during the course of the ride, including a conductor announcing their presence on one train and a passenger noticing them on another train as he was reading about them in a daily newspaper.During the course of the day, the group documented their route and enlisted signed statements from more than 90 people who witnessed their journey.”People were really rooting us on,” he said.Amarosa said it may take several months before Guinness decides to certify the group's accomplishment.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by email at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.