Passengers at Whitehall station wait for the next ferry, April 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

Passengers embark in Manhattan, April 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

Rules require passengers to remain masked at all times on the ferry, but riders don’t always follow suit, March 13 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

Commuters depart from Staten Island in the early morning, March 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

NYPD officers talk during the journey, March 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

Tourists take photos of the Statue of Liberty from the ferry, April 24 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

The Manhattan skyline from the Hurricane Deck, April 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

Passengers look out at the Statue of Liberty from the Hurricane Deck, April 24 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

A man looks out at the Statue of Liberty, March 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

There are 16 crew members aboard the ferry at all times, April 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

The Manhattan skyline disappears into fog, April 15 2021. Photo by Trish Rooney

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by Maria Panskaya

Gusty freezing winds greeted runners as they got off the Staten Island Ferry to run the 2014 TCS New York City Marathon this morning. One by one, as they exited the ferry terminal, sleepy participants hurried to get to the warm buses, almost competing with each other for a cozy bus seat.

The 26.2-mile course challenged 40,000 runners from all over the world. It started on the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island, covered all five New York boroughs and ended in Central Park.

Aoiko Moisu, from Tokyo, Japan, participated in the marathon for the second time, proudly wearing traditional samurai attire. While his outfit may look odd, for Moisu, wearing samurai gear during the marathon is a way to introduce Japanese culture to viewers and a way for him to have fun.

“When I’m in the middle of the race, dehydrated and tired, hearing people cheer for me, like ‘Go, samurai, you can do it’, gives me energy and motivation to finish the marathon,” he said.

Moisu, who didn’t want to give his age, but said he “felt 18”, started running marathons six years ago and wears this costume every time. . The attire is made of light plastic parts and stretchy fabric, which allows Moisu to run fast, without restricting his movements.

“The plastic parts, arms, boots and chest, always remain the same,” said Moisu. “But I change fabric. When it’s hot, I use light material, when it’s cold, like today, I have heat-technology fabric underneath.”

In addition to running a tough marathon, Moisu has the added difficulty of getting the medal over his helmet.

“After I the cross finish line. organizers always find it hard to put the medal on me because of my helmet,” he said. “They end up putting it on my helmet’s horns.”

As Moisu waited to board the bus to the start line, the yellow and blue tussles of his costume were dancing in the wind, attracting not only the runners’ attention but also the police officers’. They searched him three times before allowing Moisu to board the bus.

“It’s cold outside and they made me take off my costume, leaving me in my shirt and pants,” said Moisu. “But I’m not mad at them. Police does this kind of thorough search for our own safety. We all remember the Boston Marathon.”

Moisu clipped his mask to the sides of the helmet and jogged slightly closer to the start line, occasionally stopping to shake hands or to take pictures with other runners.

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Hideki Kinoshita (left) and Steve Shannon (right) pose for pictures for fellow runners on their way to board the Staten Island Ferry to reach the start of the 2011 ING New York City Marathon. Photo by Eric Zerkel

With an estimated 50,000-registered runners, blending in at the New York City Marathon is far too easy. Ordinary runners don sneakers and other athletic garb with the extraordinary hope of completing the 26.2-mile feat. But ordinary just isn’t the Marathon Maniacs.

Surrounded by thousands of other prospective runners waiting to board the Staten Island Ferry to reach the start of the race, the small, close-knit group of five runners stood clad head to toe in superhero costumes.

This makeshift league of justice doesn’t jump tall buildings in a single bound, or even save heroines in distress, but accomplishes an even more incredible feat, running marathons—lots of them.

Take Hideki Kinoshita of Leonia, N.J., for instance, also identified by his costume as Thor. The 32-year-old’s resume could stretch nearly the length of the course. Kinoshita has run in 78 marathons just in the past three years, and the 2011 ING New York City Marathon – his third New York City Marathon – will mark his 30th marathon of this year alone.

“I’ve been running marathons every week, consecutively, since August,” Kinoshita said. “My goal is to run 100 marathons and at least one marathon in all 50 states. It’s just one big party that lasts for four or five hours. It’s addicting.”

But Kinioshita isn’t the only one with this running affliction. In fact, Kinoshita’s resume pales in comparison to some of the other members of Marathon Maniacs.

The club features a tiered membership, which, at the lowest level, requires the completion of two marathons within 16 days, and stretches to “titanium level,” which requires a modest 52 marathons over a year span.

The members who run the most marathons in a one-year span, are dubbed, “Maniac of the Year,” with last year’s winners completing 106 marathons, or 2,777.2 miles.

Kinoshita said the club has over 4,500 members and has allowed him to meet individuals scattered across the country.

“We travel all over the country together,” said Kinoshita. “I’ve found hundreds of friends through the Maniacs. It’s been great.”

One such friend is David Shannon, 53, of Shoreview, MN., who sported a custom tailored Mr. Incredible suit. Kinoshita and Shannon met last October, during the New Port Amica Breakers Marathon in New Port, RI.

And while Shannon has gone at a slower pace than Kinoshita, racking up 49 marathons since his first in 1998, he says the group of marathon pros has to find ways to switch things up.

“I said, what the heck, I’ve run 49 marathons and I’ve never ran one dressed in costume,” Shannon said. “I’m young, well at least I’d like to think I am, and I’m only going to live once, so I went for it.”

Despite their antics and endless accolades the Maniacs know exactly what keeps them running back for more.

“Crossing the finish line is pretty sweet,” Shannon said. “But it’s not really about the destination; it’s about the journey. Absorbing the crowds and the energy from all the people around you, that’s what it’s all about.”

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John Raimond displays the hand-made hook he uses in lieu of a more traditional prosthetic attachment in Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan Raimond, who lost his arm and eye in a car crash two years ago, wears the hook while posing for pictures in in the heated terminal during the coldest winter months. (Meredith Bennett-Smith / Pavement Pieces).

As commuters and tourists hurried through the Manhattan side of Whitehall Ferry Terminal yesterday, “Captain Jack Sparrow,” aka John Raimond, greeted bundled passengers with an iron hook, home-made nose ring and a one-eyed sneer worthy of the fictional pirate hero’s Hollywood alter ego, actor Johnny Depp.

During the winter months, Raimond, 40, of Staten Island, greets ferry passengers here three to five days a week. Posing for pictures with tourists and locals alike, Raimond’s pirate get-up springs from events that hit closer to home than the average street performer’s costume.

After a heavy night of drinking and a fight with his girlfriend in May 2009, Raimond blacked out behind the wheel and ran his vehicle into a ditch. Nine days later, he regained consciousness in an intensive care hospital bed.

“I opened my eyes and I don’t have my left arm,” Raimond said.

While Raimond took the loss of his limb in stride, the loss of his job was harder to swallow. Unable to continue welding commercially, he stumbled across his current profession while watching the film Pirates of the Caribbean.

“I thought to myself, I now have one arm, and I now have one eye,” he said.

One self-welded hook prosthetic and $400 worth of Party City apparel later, the Whitehall Ferry Terminal Captain Sparrow was born.

But Raimond, who has an official permit to act as a pirate, is not the only performer to frequent the warm confines of the Whitehall Terminal. The entryway also plays host to a tin man and golden statue, according to Maria Baluena, of Staten Island, a cashier at one of the terminal’s food counters.

From behind a counter stacked with pizza rolls and hot pretzels, Baluena watches the waves of commuters pass by the various performers as well as a tight-knit contingent of homeless, the terminal’s semi-permanent population.

“[The homeless] all sit over there,” Baluena said, gesturing to a corner of the terminal far from the eyes of the police officers and drug sniffing dogs, yet close to the public bathroom stalls. “There’s the fart guy he farts a lot, and Ritchie, and the Russian guy who repeats the same thing over and over again, and the Pepperoni Lady.”

The group of twenty or so swells during the winter months, Baluena said, while going largely undisturbed by the terminal staff unless they cause a disturbance by throwing food on the floor or feeding the pigeons.

While the homeless keep a low profile, performers who share the warm terminal space with them often attract onlookers from the departing and arriving crowds.

“Excuse me, Mr. Pirate,” said the young woman, interrupting Raimond’s statuesque posing and nudging her toddler forward. “Can he take a picture with you?”

“Argh!” Raimond replied smiling, bending down on one knee, but still managing to dwarf the little boy.

The two walked away without depositing anything in the tip jar hanging from the pirate’s rope belt. But Raimond said he derives much more personal satisfaction than actual revenue from his stints as a swashbuckler.

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