The 2023 22nd Anniversary Run

The Downey Family is so happy to announce our 22nd Anniversary Run is to held on Sunday June 18th 2023 and is now open for registration. We will have the DC Raymond M Downey "Forever Running" 5k Run/Walk for those who would like to keep the tradition alive and continue to honor the memory of our Dad. We are so grateful for the support and love the Deer Park and running communities have shown us over the past 22 years. We would like to thank our family, friends and all those who have participated in making this such a successful event. 
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About Deputy Chief Raymond M. Downey

After serving with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Middle East, Ray Downey was appointed to the New York City Fire Department in 1962. Chief Downey’s phenomenal 39-year career with the FDNY was built upon success after success and rescue after rescue. One of the most decorated men in the department, Chief Downey received five individual medals for valor and 16 unit citations. Additionally, referred to as “The Master of Disaster” and “God”, Downey, commanding officer of the Special Operations Command (SOC), died in the line of duty while helping others escape from the fire and collapse scene of the World Trade Center on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. He was truly a legend in his own time. 

The Deputy Chief Raymond M. Downey Scholarship Charity Fund All proceeds from the race will benefit the organizations supported by the family of Ray Downey.

Scholarship Charity Fund


As a tribute to Chief Downey's legacy, his family has established the D.C. Raymond Downey Scholarship Charity Fund to keep his memory alive and to benefit the many organizations that Chief Downey cherished.

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Race Times / Results / Awards

In Memory of DC Ray Downey

Read More About Chief Raymond Downey

In The News

By Samuel Bruchey and Michael Rothfeld newsday.com, 12/16/2001

They braced themselves against metal railings on the cold, clear morning Saturday, hundreds of them, to pay their respects to the New York City firefighter they always knew as a giant, and now the world knows, too.

In the street, Raymond Downey's troops stood saluting him for the last time as the truck from Rescue Company 2 rumbled slowly down Deer Park Avenue.

Then with only his memory to honor, firefighters unloaded a bed of red, white and blue flowers with his helmet resting on top and carried them into the packed Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church. Additional mourners gathered in an adjacent school to watch the memorial service on a large-screened television.

Governor Keating Remembers Fallen New York Fire Hero Who Helped Oklahoma in 1995

I first met Ray Downey late on the night of April 19, 1995, in front of the bleak, bombed-out skeleton of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. It was rainy and cold, and we were just beginning the awful work of bringing out the dead from the scene of what was, until Tuesday, the worst domestic terror attack in American history.

newsday.com, 12/15/01

NEW YORK -- Thousands of firefighters gathered Saturday at a memorial for their fallen colleague Ray Downey, one of three top Fire Department officials lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Downey, chief of special operations command, was a firefighter for nearly 40 years and was the city's most decorated firefighter at age 63.

Congress has unanimously approved a plan to name the Deer Park, L.I., post office after New York Fire Chief Raymond Downey, who died at the World Trade Center.




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