After a Rough Year, New York Road Runners Searches for a Leader and Mission

“They started with an inclusive culture and deep values and along the way got lost in commercial success and operating like a for-profit rather than a not-for-profit,” Désir said. She credited the organization for changing during the past year, but added, “For people who have been wronged, it is too slow.”

Last year, Ted Metellus became the race director for the marathon, making him the first Black race director of a major marathon.

Coffey, a resident of the Fort Greene neighborhood in Brooklyn, oversees two running organizations that combine running with educational and racial justice programs. He said executives with the Road Runners have been helpful to him in recent months, but he has heard stories of others who had struggled to work with the organization.

“It’s just about being fair regardless of what color you are,” said Coffey, who goes by a single name. “Don’t be showing sides or favoritism.”

The organization continues to search for the right balance — and a clear relationship — between everything it does, from staging mass events that attract tens of millions of dollars and professional runners, and being a community-based organization that can help fund facilities and clubs throughout the city.

Rich Kenah, an increasingly influential figure in running who leads the Atlanta Track Club, said big city running organizations must keep evolving from competitive running clubs to groups that “provide a solution for everyone in the runner life cycle.” The Atlanta Track Club hosted the Olympic trials marathon last year, supports a professional team and holds some of the country’s most diverse running events, including the Peachtree Road Race, the world’s largest 10-kilometer competition.

New York Road Runners plans to cull races from its calendar next year if sponsors do not align with its stated values. Road Runners recently decided not to hold the U.A.E. Healthy Kidney 10K next year, a race sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, a country ruled by a royal family with a spotty record on human rights. It will probably hold about 40 races in 2022, down from about 50 in recent years.