The featured speaker at the Jan. 16 meeting of the Greater Long Island Running Club was veteran swimmer and triathlete Rich Barkan, who is the publisher and editor of www.metrotri.com, a website devoted to triathlons, running, swimming and biking.

The focus of Barkan's talk was on swimming and as to how runners can benefit from cross training in the swimming pool. Barkan is preparing for an Ironman Triathlon this summer and gave the audience much insight into that process.

"It was a nice treat to have Rich at the meeting," said Brian McMahon of Farmingdale, a GLIRC member who himself is an accomplished triathlete. "He is extremely knowledgeable and certainly was an entertaining speaker." Barkan used McMahon as an example in many of the demonstrations he gave during the course of the evening.