Labor Day’s heat and humidity did not stop over 4,000 runners from showing up for an Elm City tradition that is almost half a century old.
The Faxon Law New Haven Road Race, an annual event in downtown New Haven, offers an array of races, encouraging all types of runners to participate. The races include the USA Track & Field 20K Championships, a half marathon, a 5K, a half marathon relay and a “kids fun race.” The registration money for all the races go toward a collection of local nonprofits, including the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, or DESK, and Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, or IRIS.
Hosting the races is a source of pride and community engagement for both the city of New Haven and Faxon Law Group, a New Haven-based firm that serves as the event’s title sponsor. Faxon Law Communications Director Christina Acampora wrote in an email to the News that the firm is “extremely proud” to host the event.
“We’re especially thrilled to support the donation of thousands of dollars each year to local charities that promote the same mission as our firm’s Community Builder concept — to empower, enrich, enlighten and engage each member of our community — bringing groups together for the greater good,” Acampora wrote.
Runners saw a portion of their registration fees donated to over half a dozen local charities, including DESK. DESK is a soup kitchen in New Haven that provides hot meals five nights a week while running a food pantry program.
DESK Executive Director Steve Werlin expressed his excitement to partner with the race organizers from Faxon Law New Haven Road Race, highlighting how the race promotes “health and well-being.”
“All funds raised this year will support our programs that promote health, community, and equity in New Haven, serving people experiencing homelessness and living in poverty,” Werlin wrote to the News. “I can't imagine a more appropriate partnership."
The race brought a diverse mosaic of groups together — from New Haven and beyond — leaving the New Haven Green speckled with dozens of tents housing different running clubs. The New Haven Road Runners, Milford Road Runners, the Hopkins School Track and Field team, the Country School and New England 65 and Up Running Club were just a few of the groups who brought a sense of community, as well as registration dollars, to the race.
Yale students also made a showing at the event, including Cody Skinner ’27, who ran his first-ever official half marathon on Monday. He was able to register and begin training thanks to sponsorship from Benjamin Franklin College.
“I wanted to write a bunch of goals out for college — a bucket list kind of thing,” Skinner said. “And running in a formal race was one of them. I had no running experience. I didn't run in high school,” Skinner told the News.
When Skinner got an email from Benjamin Franklin College offering to sponsor students to run in the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race, he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to achieve his goal.
Skinner described the run as a personal victory, noting that it fostered a sense of on-campus and city-wide community he didn’t expect when he began training. Skinner also happily reported that he invited his suitemates to come cheer him on.
“There's definitely a big running community at Yale and in New Haven, and coming from a really rural area in Georgia, that's a big difference,” Skinner said with a smile.
Hugo Chung ’26 participated in the 5K and also described a unique sense of community on race day.
He particularly appreciated that casual runners can have a place within the same event that sponsors the USA Track & Field national 20K championships.
“I feel like there's a good amount of kids who just do it for the sake of doing it and don't take it super seriously,” Chung said pre-race.
The New Haven Road Race, which has been running for 46 years, has been sponsored by Faxon Law Firm for the past 18 years.