Vytra Health Plans and Long Island Track & Field have announced that Vytra will be the title sponsor of the 2004 Vytra Long Island Grand Prix of road races, a 21 race series that includes virtually every significant road race on Long Island. The announcement was made at the annual Long Island Track & Field Awards Brunch held at SUNY Stony Brook on Feb. 22.

Long Island Track & Field is the Long Island arm of USA Track & Field, the official national governing body of track and field, race walking, cross country running and long distance running. This is the sixth year of the Grand Prix and LITF is thrilled to welcome Vytra as its new title sponsor. "The Long Island running community very much appreciates the support of this outstanding corporate citizen," noted LITF President Susan Polansky. "Considering Vytra's record of enthusiastic support for health and fitness, it was only logical that Vytra and LITF get together to make the 2004 Vytra Grand Prix of Long Island road races the biggest and best ever!"

The kickoff event of the Vytra Grand Prix will be the March 6 Little Cow Harbor 4 Mile Run in Greenlawn, and will include such other major events as the March 21 Kings Park 15 Kilometer Run, the April 3 ASPIRE 10 Kilometer Run in Plainview, the April 17 Earth Day 4 Mile Run at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the May 2 Long Island Marathon/Half Marathon, the May 9 Elizabeth McNamee 5 Kilometer Run in West Islip, the May 29 RunDay 5 Kilometer Run in Hicksville, the June 6 New Hyde Park 5 Mile Run, the June 19 Long Island Police Appreciation Run at Eisenhower Park, the July 4 Bellmore 4 Mile Run, the July 10 Vytra Women's 5 Kilometer Run in Farmingdale, the July 11 Massapequa Firecracker 5 Kilometer Run, the July 31 Hampton Race Fest 5 Kilometer and 10 Kilometer Runs, the August 16 Brentwood Rotary 5 Kilometer Run, the August 21 Massapequa Merchants Mile, the September 11 Officer Gary Farley Memorial 5 Kilometer Run in Wantagh, the October 16 Oyster Festival 5 Kilometer Run, the November 14 Elite 8 Kilometer Run in Ronkonkoma, the November 21 Mineola Mustang 5 Kilometer Run, and the December 11 Wantagh Snowball 5 Kilometer Run.

The 2004 series will, for the first time, include the new Vytra Corporate Star Competition, designed to introduce a strong yearlong inter-corporate team competition into the mix. "The Vytra Corporate Star Competition provides companies an opportunity to encourage fitness and team spirit among their employees," noted Vytra Health Plans spokesperson Melissa Gallagher. "We're really excited with our new affiliation with Long Island Track & Field and the many communities and charities across Long Island benefitting from the Vytra Grand Prix series."

Vytra Health Plans offers a wide variety of health insurance and administrative services products to over 200,000 members. Corporate caring and community involvement are critical ingredients in Vytra's success, and the Vytra Grand Prix is just the latest in a series of health related activities and outreach programs that Vytra supports.

For more information about the Vytra Grand Prix and the individual running events that make a part of it, call John Martin at the LITF office at 349-9157.