Suffolk County to Host 2nd Annual CHS Suffolk County Marathon, Half Marathon and 5k to Support Our Veterans Sunday, October 30, 2016

More than 2,500 runners from 21 states, the District of Columbia and six countries will be running in the 2^nd Annual Suffolk County Marathon, Half Marathon and 5k starting in Patchogue Village.  All net proceeds from the event will go towards enhancing and expanding veterans’ services in Suffolk County.

  The Suffolk Marathon serves as qualifier race for the 2018 Boston Marathon.

                   In addition to the races being held, the FreedomFest: Taste of Long Island Festival will begin at 9:00 a.m., shortly after the first 5k runners finish and just before the first Half Marathoners will finish. The event will feature three stages of live musical entertainment and include more than 40 vendors that will highlight local craft breweries, award winning wines, and local food and produce. Free tastings will be given to all race participants. The Patchogue-Medford Library will be hosting family activities, including pumpkin painting (pumpkins being donated by Legislator Krupski’s farm) and lawn games in front of the Carnegie Library.

The FreedomFest: Taste of Long Island Festival is being made possible with the support and partnership of New York State, the Village of Patchogue, the Long Island Wine Council, the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Patchogue Chamber of Commerce, and the nonprofit veterans’ organization Project 9 Line.

Live Music:

Through the efforts of Jayson Velez of the Jay Scott Band and Patrick Donohue, founder of the nonprofit veterans’ organization Project 9 Line, the FreedomFest will have three stages of live music (the Suffolk County Showmobile, the Brickhouse Brewery Stage, and the Tap Room Stage) from 9:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. All bands will be performing gratis as a donation to veterans and many bands will feature musicians who are themselves United States veterans.

Sponsors of the event include but are not limited to: Title Sponsor Catholic Health Services, Hunter EMS, Progressive Emergency Physicians, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Sayville / Smithtown Running Company, All Round Foods, WBAB / WBLI, Patchogue Family YMCA, PSEG, St. Joseph’s College, Canon USA, Suffolk Bus.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

                   7:00 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Marathon and Half Marathon begin at 8:00 a.m.

                   5k begins at 8:15am

                   Freedom Festival and Taste of Long Island Festival opens at 9:00 a.m.

All three races begin and end in vibrant downtown Patchogue. The marathon course travels through numerous other scenic downtowns on the south shore, as well, which are Blue Point, Bayport, Sayville, Oakdale, and Great River. The full marathon course will turn around in Heckscher State Park before entering the scenic Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. The half marathon turns around on the campus of St. John’s University. After turning around in their respective locations, both the full and half marathons travel back down Montauk Highway to their starting point in Patchogue. The 5K, new this year, will travel on Montauk Highway to Blue Point before turning around.