(Courtesy of JRunners) For the 36th year, the TCS New York City Marathon, on November 3, will feature morning services at the Fort Wadsworth staging ground for the many Jewish runners expected to compete in the 49th 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 inside the main gate. Full shachris services will commence at approximately 7:00 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 are urged to attend a service that will allow them at least 45 minutes after completion to get to their race start marshaling corral.
The minyan is a project of JRunners, a Brooklyn-based organization dedicated to encouraging physical health for Jewish men and women through athletic competition.
The pushke collection this year will go to Chai Lifeline, a wonderful charity that provides services for cancer-stricken children and their families.
Please Note: We no longer transport personal religious articles to manhattan. Minyan organizers will have an ample supply of tefillin, tallesim and siddurim for use during all services, and participants are encouraged to use these items instead of bringing their own. Runners who want to use their own religious items will have to make their own checking arrangements with NYRR for transport to the pickup point at Central Park, as was the procedure prior to 2013.
For more information on the minyan, contact: Yisroel Davidsohn at [email protected] or 646-529-1351, or Peter Berkowsky at [email protected], 973/992-6775 (home) or 973/477-7908 (cell).
