With only two races remaining in the 21 race series, there are still several titles up for grabs in the 1999 KeySpan/Long Island Track & Field Grand Prix of Long Island Long Distance Running.

The Men's Open and Women's Open Divisions have already been decided, with Robis Di Germenci of the Greater Long Island Running Club's Mens Racing Team and Regina Ronan of The Runner's Edge having locked into first place for the series. Robis, with first place overall finishes in the Westbury-Carle Place Rotary 5K, the New Hyde Park 5 Miler, and the Gary Farley Memorial Run, has an insurmountable lead over Jim Micheels of The Runner's Edge, and Regina has been the first woman finisher overall in each of the eight Grand Prix races she has competed in.

In the men's 30-39 age group, GLIRC's Paul Englehart is in first place, ahead of GLIRC teammate Joel Salas and Scott Gorman of The Runner's Edge. In the women's 30-39 age group, Laura Gluf has a slim 5 point lead over Una Broderick.

Based on his 2nd place overall and first masters finish in the Lovenox Five Miler, Don Di Donato has moved into the lead in the 40-49 age group, passing the now inured John Del Maestro. Similarly, Kathy Martin's win in Lovenox has vaulted her past Patty Zebersky into first place among the women age 40-49. Julio Aguirre has a lock on the men's 50-59 title, as does Mary Anne Goldman in the women's 50-59 age group and Joe Cordero in the Men's 60-69 age group.

Pat Delaney still holds the lead in the Women's 60-69 age group, but Northport's Marion Stanjones can still catch her with wins in the final two events. John Corrigan clinched the 70 and over age group with his performance in the Lovenox Five Miler.

"This continues to be an exciting series, that has attracted nearly 1300 Long Island runners and has been very competitive throughout," observed Long Island Track & Field President Sue Polansky. "This was our first try at a Grand Prix series based exclusively on Long Island and, based on our success this year, we expect bigger and better things for 2000. Our sincere thanks to the good folks from the KeySpan Foundation and KeySpan Energy for making this Long Island first possible!"

The Awards for the Grand Prix will be presented at the inaugural LITF Annual Dinner, tentatively scheduled to be held at KeySpan's Hicksville facility on Thursday evening, January 27, 2000.

LITF President Sue Polansky, Vice President Mike Roth, Sports for the Disabled Chairman Nick Katsounis, Long Distance Running Chairman Alex Cuozzo, Youth Committee Co-Chair George Van Duyn, and other LITF officials will be heading out to Los Angeles at the end of November for the USATF Convention, where they expect to receive formal approval for LITF as the 57th member Association of the national organization.