The North Face ECS @ Bear Mountain was very well run and organized. It's not over crowded and everyone is there to get dirty and have a good time.
There are yellow bus shuttles from parking to the start and sufficient port-a-potty's. The Half Marathon takes place on Sunday followed by the 10k and 5k. The half loops back in to meet up with the 5 and 10Kers for the last 2 miles. I didn't really mind this so much.
The Half marathon course is a brutal test. There are at least 5 climbs where you are doing little more than walking straight up or walking straight down. There is a particularly evil climb at mile 9.5 that will test your spirit. There aren't many opportunities to open your stride up, most of the trails are super technical footing that you have to pay strict attention to. Your quads and feet will take a beating.
There isn't much opportunity in NYC to run on terrain like this so if it's something you enjoy doing, I really recommend it.

The AirBNB Brooklyn Half Marathon is organized by the NYRR and they do a fantastic job. It's the world's largest half with over 26,000 finishers. After signing up in January, I still couldn't figure out logistics of getting my bib, getting to the race etc. The NYRR site has plenty of suggestions and of course I listened to none of them.. You must pick up your bib in Brooklyn at their pre-race party expo which is fantastic but a pain in the ass to get to.
Race day, they said there is NO PARKING near the start at Prospect Park and they are right... zero parking, street or otherwise and I left my house at 4:45a for a 6a corral and a 7a start.
Next year I'll park in NYC and subway out to the park. I ended up jogging about 1.5 miles to the start after parking so far away, bag check was 1/2 a mile away from the start, security check then into the corral.
Each corral held about 1000 runners, luckily I was Wave 1 and in the 2nd corral (thanks to registering early)
Port-a-pottys were lined up for a mile and there was still lines 30 deep. Get there early people!!
Once I took care of THAT business, I grabbed a piece of the tape at the front of the corral and waited for 30 minutes for the start. They then collapsed the corrals and we walked to the actual start 100m or so. Slight chaos with people rushing to the front... A few speeches and then the air horn. It took about 40 seconds to cross the start. Not too bad.
The first mile is jockeying for position and trying not to get tripped up. You then find yourself in Prospect park for some loopy miles. Water stations are well laid out and easy to access. There aren't really any hills on the entire course so it's easy to fly through the first 5-6 miles.
After exiting the park around mile 6, you find yourself on Ocean Parkway for a straight shot to Coney Island. It's kinda awesome and yet kinda like you'll never ever get to the finish line mirage. When you make it to the pier and you know the finish isn't far off. It's a quick turn and its about 300m to the finish line.
They have a long chute with medals, fruit, water/gatorade people ready to apply medical. You just keep stumbling through and you are dumped into a huge parking lot with your baggage on the other side.
Baggage is a bit more mayhem. About 1000 bags per truck, and everyone at your truck shows up simultaneously. It's like getting the last bits of bread at a communist market. Everyone is screaming their bib # and pushing, shoving. Just what you need at the end of 13.1 It's about 20 minutes of that non-sense and you're done.
If you can muster the energy, you can join the post-race festivities or head out to the boardwalk and get a beer. Which is what I did.
Overall I'd say this is a great race for those that want to accomplish their first 13.1 or even set a PB. It's an event for sure.
The medal is very nice and the New Balance Tech T is maybe the best I've ever gotten at a race.

USATF-LI manages this race. They do a great job setting up the course and getting registration completed etc.
The course if 4 tedious loops in Wantaugh park. The park itself is lovely but 4 loops absolutely murder you. There are some really good runners that show up as it is USATF and a club championship, there just aren't a lot of runners. No t-shirts, not medals, no swag. $12 to sign-up no complaints...
If you want to test your running fortitude on a golf course type layout with 3 hay bails per loop then this is a good test.
There are standard park restroom facilities available. Plenty of parking.
They haven't posted results 3 days later but I'm sure someone has to type them in manually so I'm not rushing it. I kept split times on my watch as they didn't have any on the course. The course was well laid out with flags to mark it and the shoot (finish line) was good enough to handle a HS XC invitational.
Not sure I'll be back next year unless I need to sharpen up my race time for a different event.