The single most important day on the Long Island running calendar -- that's the Nationwide Insurance Ocean to Sound 50 Mile Relay in a nutshell, and this year's was a real record breaker.

A total of 137 teams of eight runners each toed the starting line at Jones Beach State Park on Sept. 27 and 133 of them reached the finish line at the Northside School in Farmingdale, making it the biggest field in the history of the event. The relay was enjoyed at every level¬by the highly competitive teams at the front, by the fun-loving teams like the Mixed Up Masters and Forrest Gump, who shared this year's "Spirit of the Race" Award, to back-of-the-pack teams who toughed it out through the heat (89 degrees!) and the humidity to the finish. Virtually every running club in the New York metropolitan area was represented at this year's relay.

Congratulations and thanks to Alan and Sharon End of the host Plainview-Old Bethpage Road Runners Club for another outstanding job of handling the logistics smoothly and effectively and making this event the best that it can be; to our most generous sponsor Nationwide Insurance and Tony Wiszowaty, whose Nationwide Insurance Agency in Lynbrook is such an outstanding supporter of the Long Island running community; to Mindy Lerner Davidson and her outstanding crew of volunteer race officials; to David Katz of Finish Line Road Race Technicians; to the outstanding men and women of the Nassau and Suffolk Police Departments and all the auxiliary police for their invaluable assistance in making the 1998 relay such a success.