Race Course from World Trade Center

1 World Trade Center surpassed the Empire State Building today as the tallest structure in New York City. To mark the occasion, we asked New York Outrigger member and ironworker Jesse Rice working on the adjacent World Trade Center Tower 4 project to take a break from construction and take some photos of the Liberty Challenge Race Course from his perch.

In the above photo, the race venue and launch site at Cove Between the Bridges at Brooklyn Bridge Park is seen between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges on the upper right. The race starts across the East River under the Manhattan Tower of the Manhattan Bridge which is the tower on the left of the upper bridge located at the center of the photo. Crews hug the Manhattan shore passing under the Brooklyn Bridge (located on the right of the photo) before rounding the Battery and heading up the Hudson River.

The image to the left shows the progress being made on 1 World Trade Center. Once you are done marveling at this structure, look beyond to the Hudson River. The two identical brick boxes on both sides of the river marks the location of the Holland Tunnel and also the location of the Mixed Race Crossing. The men’s and women’s courses paddle an additional 4 miles with their crossing shown just where the river bends to the right edge of the photo.

The photo below shows New York Harbor with New Jersey beyond. Crews paddling down the Hudson on the right would first pass Liberty State Park (right), followed by Ellis Island (center) and then turn at the Statue of Liberty (left) before heading across the harbor and back to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

1 and 4 World Trade Center are set for completion in 2013. We look forward to including the observation deck into our list of Spectator Vantage Points in the near future.