The Greater Long Island Running Club announced that Sarah Reinertsen will be the featured speaker at the club's Tuesday, March 18, open general meeting. The meeting will be held at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library, 999 Old Country Road in Plainview, starting promptly at 8 p.m.

At the age of 27, Sarah Reinertsen is one of the strongest amputee runners in the world. She is one of the only female above-the-knee amputees running marathons and multi-distance races. From the 100 meter dash, to the 26.2 mile marathon, Sarah has proven herself as one of the fastest women in the world - and holds the world record for amputee women (T42) in four distances. Her latest major accomplishment was the 2002 London Marathon, where she not only set her world record of 5:27:04, but she raised enough money for the United Nations charity Adopt-a-Minefield to clear a minefield in Vietnam.

Sarah became an amputee at just 7 years old. She was born with a tissue disorder (proximal femoral focal deficiency) in her left leg. It took her four years to learn how to run, but once she learned, and got the right kind of artificial leg - she was unstoppable. At the age of 11 Sarah began running track competitively, in large part because it was the one thing people didn't expect her to do. She was a young girl with a fake leg, and going through those teen years with a disability was difficult, but she poured her heart into running - training every day after school either on the track or in the gym lifting weights.

Sarah first broke the 100 meter world record for women above-the-knee amputees when she was 13 years old. That same year she became the youngest member of the US Disabled Track Team and began to compete nationally and internationally. The highlight of her track career came in 1992 when she competed for the United States at the Paralympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Although Sarah went to those games as a world record holder in the 100 meter dash, she had a disappointing race, tripping in the starting blocks and failing to advance to the final heat.

When she returned home from the '92 games, Sarah took a break from the track to pursue her studies at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. They didn't have a track team, so Sarah stopped training for the 100m and 200m - but it wasn't long before she was back out there running. She began to train and run in 5km and 10km road races, and eventually, during her last semester at George Washington University she ran her first marathon at the 1997 NYC marathon, with a time of 6:28.

When she's not running, Sarah works as an on-air reporter and producer for US Olympic Gold a sports television show that airs nationally on NBC. She has interviewed many of the best United States Olympic athletes, and has also brought a new understanding of both Olympic and Paralympic athletes to her audience. Her involvement with US Olympic Gold has also brought forth many more features on athletes with disabilities. Sarah has also become a regular TV personality for the New York City Marathon on NBC - doing interviews at the starting line, on the course and at the finish.

Sarah is now training for her next endeavor, the Triathlon!

Sarah is a vivacious and enthusiastic young lady, an outstanding athlete, and perhaps the finest speaker that it has ever been our pleasure to welcome as part f a club program.

The general public is cordially invited to attend on March 18, For more information, call the Greater Long Island Running club at 349-7646.