(Courtesy of Marathon Minyan) For the 39th year, and with heavy hearts, the TCS New York City Marathon on Nov. 5 will feature morning services at the Fort Wadsworth (Staten Island) staging ground for the many Jewish runners expected to compete in the 52nd 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.

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 that the minyan no longer transports personal religious items to Manhattan and there will be no facilities for checking such items with minyan leaders or with NYRR. 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 American Friends of Magen David Adom, the highly rated organization that provides vital medical support to Israel in this time of need.

For more information on the minyan, contact: Yisroel Davidsohn at [email protected] or (646) 529-1351, or Peter Berkowsky, [email protected], (973) 992-6775 (home) or (973) 477-7908 (cell).