Dozens of runners braved a chilly November morning to take part in the fourth annual “5K for Davide” in Astoria on Nov. 15, hosted by amateur soccer club New York International FC (NYIFC) to remember former player Davide Giri, who was killed during an unprovoked attack in 2021.
Saturday’s event, co-hosted by NYIFC and Fit Club Astoria Physical Therapy, took off at around 9:30 a.m. from outside Fit Club’s Astoria location at 21-03 31st Ave.
NYIFC launched the 5K for Davide event in 2022 to pay tribute to Giri one year after his tragic death and has been holding the event annual ever since.
Saturday’s race was donation-based, with all proceeds going toward food insecurity non-profit EV Loves NYC. Club officials said early figures indicate that the event raised almost $2,000 for EV.
Giri, who immigrated to the United States from Italy, was one of the first players to join NYIFC, an amateur soccer club established in 2019 by members of New York’s international community. Giri, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Columbia University, was stabbed to death during an unprovoked attack in Manhattan’s Morningside Park while walking home from training on Dec. 2, 2021.
Nicholas Alexandrakos, director of community outreach at NY International, said on Saturday that the annual 5K was the club’s way to “honor and uplift” Giri’s memory.
“We hold him very dear to our heart,” Alexandrakos said. “I wish we never had to put this together, but this is the situation. I think we do a very good job of keeping his memory alive with the club.”
Alexadrakos added that runners also took part virtually in Germany, the UK, Texas, Vermont and Giri’s native Italy.
“This is really a global event,” Alexandrakos said.
The event was open to runners young and old, with participants as young as 10 running 5k in Giri’s memory.
Samuel Gozlan, a close friend of Giri’s who ran alongside his 10-year-old son Alec on Saturday, said Giri’s death was like losing a family member. Gozlan’s son has now ran in the annual 5k two years in a row.
“We talk a lot about what it means to remember people that left too early,” Gozlan said. “I’m very, very happy that Alec and I were able to run today.”
Agostino Sasso, who worked at Columbia at the time of Giri’s death and took part in Saturday’s 5k, said Giri’s death “shocked the community” in December 2021.
Sasso said he had been unable to partake in previous 5ks for Davide due to injury but said the event was crucial to keep Giri’s memory alive.
“This is the first time I’m able to run it, and I think it’s an important race,” Sasso said. “I think it’s just important to keep his memory alive.”
Katherine Rochmat, who also works at Columbia, said it was “really important” to support the annual 5k.
“I think it’s really important to remember people and to maintain a sense of community and just kind of be together,” Rochmat said.
In an interview with QNS ahead of the 2024 event, Gary Philpott, a founding member of NYIFC and a current first team coach at the club, described Giri as a “good friend” who helped build New York International. Philpott said the annual 5k takes on a greater significance with each passing year in order to remember Giri’s life.
“The first year, there was more of an initiative to do things because it was so fresh and so close,” Philpott told QNS last year. “But the grieving changes and life goes on and there are times when it’s not as present as it used to be. That’s why it’s even more important to hold the 5K now. If we skip it after only a couple of years, it will just die out.”
