The new IRIE-Rolling Thunder Road Runners Club (formerly Special Olympics-Cool Running) team of mentally challenged young athletes needed a financial boost to get them started, and the Greater Long Island Running Club was happy to step forward on Dec. 27 to lend them a hand.

Club officials met the young athletes and their coaches at The Runner's Edge, one of the local area's best running stores, located in Farmingdale. Runner's Edge proprietor Bob Cook generously provided the shoes to GLIRC at a deep discount, GLIRC responded by purchasing new running shoes for the 31 special athletes to make sure that nothing impedes their progress in the months ahead.

The coaches of IRIE-RTRRC offer the young athletes training as any mainstream running team would. Their coaches teach them to give their best and never quit. IRIE-RTRRC Athletics Director Steve Cuomo commented, "Hopefully the athletes will take the skills and dedication they have learned as distance runners and apply them to their daily lives. Inclusion and independence give them confidence and raises their self-esteem."

"The coaches and young athletes of IRIE-RTRRC will be going that extra mile," observed GLIRC vice president Mindy Davidson, "and the Greater Long Island Running Club is quite pleased to have been able to give them a boost to help them get there."