On Saturday morning, April 4, a very special event will take place on the roads of Plainview-Old Bethpage -- the 20th annual Plainview 10 Kilometer "Run for ASPIRE" -- and we are asking for your help to make it successful.

This year's run has been selected by USA Track & Field as the National Master's championship run, and will bring over 1,500 runners and walkers into our community, including several of the young amputees from the ASPIRE program who are the direct beneficiaries of the run. (ASPIRE is the program that has been set up in conjunction with the Hospital for Special Surgery and Memorial Sloan Kettering to provide prosthetic devices, intensive physical therapy and rehabilitation through athletics to young amputees, victims of bone cancer and traumatic amputations.)

We need your cooperation to assure the safety of these guests in our community. Please avoid driving your car on the route of the run as the runners and walkers are passing by. The run will start promptly at 9 a.m. on the morning of the 4th, and the last participant should cross the finish line at the Mattlin Middle School by 10:15 a.m., although most of the course will be clear long before that.

Please be especially patient with the need to halt traffic at the Old Country Road/Round Swamp Road intersection as the runners cross over Old Country Road.

We hope that as many of our neighbors as possible will be on hand along the course to cheer the runners and walkers on, especially the amputees. This is a great opportunity to show runners from all over the country what a friendly community Plainview-Old Bethpage is!

Thanks in advance for your understanding and your cooperation. If you have any questions about the run, please feel free to give me a call at 433-0919.

Michael Polansky, President

Plainview-Old Bethpage Road Runners Club