Greg Karl of Massapequa Park displays the trophy he earned at the Nationwide Insurance 10 Kilometer Run for ASPIRE.

Congratulations to veteran Massapequa Park athlete Greg Karl, who earned first place honors in the 60-64 Age Group in the 31st annual Nationwide Insurance 10 Kilometer Run for ASPIRE, which was held on the roads of Plainview, Old Bethpage and Bethpage on Saturday morning April 5. Greg crossed the finish line at Plainview's H.B. Mattlin Middle School in 44 minutes, 32 seconds, giving him an 18-second margin over age group 2nd place finisher Roger Soulagnet of Lindenhurst.

The entire net proceeds of the Run were once again turned over to the ASPIRE Program for the rehabilitation of young amputees through athletics, and lots of amputee athletes - including several from the A Step Ahead rehab program were at the Run to try their skills against the able bodied athletes. The top amputee finisher was Tom Koehler in 41:03.

"My congratulations to Greg Karl and all the other great athletes from the Massapequas who made this year's ASPIRE 10K a success once again this year," observed Race Director Bob Windorf. "The Long Island running community has been coming to Plainview-Old Bethpage every spring now for more than three decades, and we welcome all of our participants, of every age and level ability, to join us again in April of 2009."