The ZAGNY and WZCC-NY Chapter hosted a community dinner reception for Zoroastrian participants of the TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) New York City Marathon, at New York’s Dar-e-Mehr, on 1^st November, 2024, two days ahead of the Marathon, with the aim of motivating greater participation in future Marathons.

The Zoroastrian community was well represented at the grueling 26.219 miles-long TCS NY Marathon, held on 3^rd November, 2024, including athletes – Meher Chinoy Jesia (Mumbai); Firdaus Dotiwala (Florida); Fabian Katrak (New York); Noshir Lala (Mumbai); Arzan Singpurwalla (Mumbai); amongst others. Volunteers Niloufer and Edul Daver, Er. Pervez Patel and Avan, brought the group to the Dar-e-Mehr’s Atash Kadeh (Prayer room) for a Tandarosti prayer by Er. Pervez Patel and Er. Jamshed Dastur. This was followed by the dinner reception.

ZAGNY President – Khursheed Navder and WZCC NY Chapter President – Natalie Gandhi, extended a warm welcome to the athletes. ZAGNY member, Jamshed Ghadiali, who has run 13 NYC Marathons and six Long Island half marathons, shared interesting facts and tips about the NYC Marathon.

Edul Daver then spoke on the importance of physical fitness and sports for character-development, noting an interesting correlation between sportsmanship and entrepreneurship. He introduced the athletes – three Mumbai athletes participating in this Marathon for the first time – Meher Chinoy Jesia, a Partner at Union Press, advocating holistic health and a balanced lifestyle for our next gen to thrive, Noshir Lala, financial expert, advocating the community unity worldwide and Arzan Singpurwalla, Head of Partnerships, WhatsApp for Business, META, with the message that all Parsis need to “Wake up, lace up, and hit the road!” to change your life; Florida’s Firdaus Dotiwala, participating for the 24^th time in the NYC Marathon; and New York’s Fabian Katrak, working at IBM, participating in his 5^th fifth consecutive NYC Marathon, encouraging participation in this “addictive” marathon as an exhilarating and inspiring experience.

The athletes received much applause and were presented a token of appreciation and wished good luck by all for the oncoming Marathon, looking forward to host more Zoroastrian NYC Marathon participants next year.