LIers in Brooklyn-to-Catskills relay race

For the second year in a row, 80 people from around the country, including 15 from the Five Towns area, are scheduled to run in a 140-mile relay race from Brooklyn to the Catskills Aug. 17-18.

JRunners, a Brooklyn-based Jewish runners group, will host the event to raise money for the Ohr Meir Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps children with cancer get a break from their rigorous treatment schedules by providing trips to places such as Disney World. Last year’s race raised more than $100,000 for other charities.

The race is scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. Aug. 17 in Prospect Park and end about 22 hours later at the finish line at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake, capping a daylong carnival and concert there.

The runners will be divided into eight 10-member teams, and each participant will run three legs of the course.

This year’s event will be the first relay race in the world to use state-of-the-art chip timing, according to Steven Friedman, co-founder and president of JRunners. The progress of individual runners will be recorded by timing systems positioned along the course, which will trigger automatic text messages and social media feeds updating positions and locations in real time.

For more information, visit jrunners.org.