The Greater Long Island Running Club and the Town of Oyster Bay are pleased to announce that the 15th annual edition of the 2006 Nick Katsounis Memorial Wheelchair Championship 10 Kilometer Run will be held on the roads of Farmingdale on Sunday morning, June 25, starting and finishing adjacent to Ellsworth Allen Town Park.

The primary sponsor of the event will once again be Antun's Caterers and it's enthusiastic CEO Joe King. Other support will be provided by podiatrist Dr. Edward Fryman and the law firm of Pegalis & Erickson, P.C.

This will be the 15th annual running of the Nick Katsounis Memorial Wheelchair Race, which attracts virtually every top wheelchair racer from all over the world to Long Island every year. The 2005 Race, which included competitors from as far away as Australia, Europe, and the Union of South Africa, featured a duel to the finish with Boston Marathon champion Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa edging out last year's winner Kurt Fearnley of Australia and 2003 winner Saul Mendoza of Mexico with less than two seconds separating the top five finishers. The women's division featured yet another dramatic finish with Canadian superstar Diane Roy breaking her own course record to beat fellow Canadian Chantal Petitclerc and Sandra Graf of Switzerland to the finish line. The first United States finisher was Scott Hollonbeck of Atlanta in 8th place overall, in what was probably the single best field of Wheelchair racers ever assembled for any race anywhere in the world.

Race Director Geri Walsh, Deputy Race Directors Joe Mendez and Debbie Konetsky, the Greater Long Island Running Club, and the Town of Oyster Bay are making all the preparations to do honor to the memory of longtime advocate for the disabled Nick Katsounis and prepare to welcome the top wheelchair athletes from around the area....and around the world ....who will be joining the event in Farmingdale on Sunday, June 25.

For more information, contact Geri Walsh at the GLIRC office at (516) 349-7646.