BREAKING NEWS

Record attendance overwhelms organizers of Auschwitz bike ride

A record 150 cyclists or more are scheduled to participate in the third Holocaust commemorative Ride for the Living in Poland.

Participants aged 16-81 from eight countries are scheduled to join the 55-mile trek from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland to the Jewish community center in Krakow that begins on Friday.

The solidarity ride will be led by Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, and Auschwitz survivor Marcel Zielinski, according to Jonathan Ornstein, the director of the Krakow JCC.

Last year’s event featured 85 cyclists.

“We are overwhelmed by the incredible worldwide response to Ride For The Living,” Ornstein told JTA, noting the first ride had only 15 participants.

He said some 1,000 riders will be participating in rides organized across the United States and Canada by local Jewish communities in solidarity with the Polish event.

The ride remembers the Holocaust, but also celebrates the renewal of Jewish life in Poland, organizers said.