The 1998 Long Island State Parks Summer Series of races kicked off at Jones Beach State Park on Monday evening, June 15 -- and the Plainview-Old Bethpage Road Runners club was out in force to support it.

The club provides the volunteer labor each year to staff the finish line and the post-race refreshment area, and the expertise of these great volunteers proves to be essential time and time again. In addition, of course, a large percentage of the runners who are competing are members of the club.

The Jones Beach Five Mile kickoff is the first of eight events held on Monday evenings at eight different state parks during the course of the summer, and the series is always well received by the Long Island running community.

The schedule for the remainder of the summer is as follows:

June 22	Sunken Meadow	10 Kilometers
June 29	Robert Moses	1 Mile
July 13	Hempstead Lake	3.9 Miles
July 27	Caumsett	5 Kilometers
August 3	Belmont Lake	5 Kilometers
August 10	Bethpage	5 Kilometers
August 17	Heckscher	5 Miles

For information about the series, or about running and racing on Long Island, generally, call the club at 349-7646.