(Courtesy of TCS NYC Marathon) For the 38th year, the TCS New York City Marathon on Nov. 6 will feature morning services at the Fort Wadsworth staging ground for the many Jewish runners expected to compete in the 51st edition of this world-famous road race. The international minyan for New York City marathoners, inaugurated in 1983, is the longest established religious service of any kind at any major sporting event anywhere in the world. This year’s race will honor the memory of the late Fred Lebow, the founder of the NYC Marathon and a patron of the minyan project from its earliest days.
The minyan venue is a tent on Drum Road (designated on the Fort Wadsworth site map), a short walk from inside the main gate.
Full Shacharit services will commence at approximately 7 a.m., and at appropriate intervals thereafter, to accommodate the hundreds of expected participants from around the world who are assigned to the several wave starts of the race. Each service should take about a half hour, and runners should join a minyan that will allow them at least 45 minutes after completion to get to their designated marshaling corral.
Please Note: The minyan organizers no longer transport personal religious articles to Manhattan and there will be no facilities for checking such items with them or with New York Road Runners. Minyan organizers will have an ample supply of tefillin, tallesim and siddurim for use during all services. Participants are urged to use these items instead of bringing their own.
The tzedakah collection this year will go to Chai Lifeline/Camp Simcha, whose mission is to enhance the lives of seriously ill children and their families through activities that offer friendship and emotional and social support.
For more information on the minyan, contact: Yisroel Davidson, [email protected], (646) 529-1351 or Peter Berkowsky, [email protected], (973) 992-6775 (home) or (973) 477-7908 (cell).