Last call at Coogan's

Word has spread quickly within the regional running community about the impending closure of a restaurant/bar near and dear to our hearts – Coogan’s, on Broadway in Washington Heights, NYC, a short walk from the Armory Track and Field Center. You can check out this excellent article in yesterday’s New York Times, which details the absurd unfairness of trying to operate an excellent community business in the city. Shame on … whoever is to blame here. Really and truly, Coogan’s is an institution – not only in that neighborhood, but within the track and field community that has called the Armory home for the past two decades.

One of the owners of Coogan’s is a Marist alum – Pete Walsh, Class of 1968. He is pictured here with another Marist alum who most of us know, my good friend Ken Bohan, Class of 1984, and equally as important, father of current school-record-holding track/XC runner, junior Shea Bohan. Since the Armory became the current iteration of the Armory, Coogan’s has been a safe landing place for parents, friends and certainly alumni, looking for a great post-meet meal and perhaps an adult beverage or three. And when the meets go on and on for hours on end, it’s a great spot to duck away during endless heats of … whatever … to get a quick bite and brew. I’ve been to Coogan’s a few times, never, ever for an adult beverage, because I’ve always been at the Armory in coaching/work mode. It’s one of those places where you instantly feel comfortable and at home, as soon as you walk in the door; a true neighborhood tavern.

As New York Times writer Jim Dwyer points out, Coogan’s has also been home to an enormously popular 5km road race each March – Coogan’s Salsa, Shamrock and Blues 5k. It’s a darn shame that this place is closing, it really is. However, it is open for a few more months, so we all can have a “bell lap” and a “last call” visit to a place that has been so welcoming to Marist Running and to countless other teams, coaches and families through the years.