'Restoration's Nine' Cross The Finish Line

As runners in the 2011 ING New York City Marathon rounded the stretch up Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill and down Bedford Avenue in Bed-Stuy, they were welcomed to one of the greatest displays of sidewalk revelry Brooklyn has seen in years (if we do say so ourselves).

For a nearly two-mile stretch, runners cut through a sea of animated and inspired applause, bells, whistles, horns and cheers like none other.

Bishop Loughlin’s High School band posted up in front of the gate outside the school’s grounds where they played the theme music from the movie “Rocky” as runners whisked by. Emmanuel Baptist Church’s gospel choir was out in full effect, along with Brooklyn Academy of Music’s jazz band, local DJs and a West African drummer’s circle.

Team Restoration, representing the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, had three cheer sections designated-- at BAM, Emmanuel Baptist Church and Dough -- where residents gathered to show support.

All nine of Team Restoration's runners completed the race. To follow are their final times:

Drema Brown-- 5:17:24

Heidi Burkhardt-- 4:25:12

Alisha Cowan-Vieira-- 5:03:20

Pierre Downing- 5:03:45

Colleen Flynn-- 4:02:37

Jessie Freeman-- 4:02:25

John Scott Johnson-- 4:18:12

Melissa Lee- 6:27:59

Folake Oguntebi-- 5:03:53

Check out the video and photo slide show featuring a photo of Team Restoration runner Melissa Lee, the managing director for the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant, at the 9.5-mile mark in Bed-Stuy. She appeared upbeat as she waved to supporters and even stopped to share a few hugs with crowd members.

Geoffrey Mutai, 30, of Kenya won this year's race, with a record time of 2:05:06.