Suffolk County had some big news to announce on the Marathon front this morning. County Executive Steve Bellone, Legislator Steve Stern along with Tom Ronayane, Director of Suffolk County Veterans Services Agency announced that teams will be permitted to raise funds for their causes during the 2016 Suffolk County Marathon, Half Marathon and 5k.
The annual run, which is scheduled for October 30th, 2016, will continue in its tradition of donating all of the races net proceeds to support and expand veteran services in Suffolk County. In addition to helping Veterans, each team will have the option of raising money for a cause that’s near and dear to them through sponsorships.
Some of the teams that have already begun to raise funds include:
- Team Liberty-raising funds for organ donation advocacy
- Patty’s Pacers-raising funds for the Patricia Keane deGeorge Memorial Scholarship at Adelphi University nursing school
- MADD-Richard Mallow, NYS Executive Director, and Tara Spohrer, walk manager, fundraising for MADD projects
- Airborne Tri-Team-Team of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans led by Ron Hurtado, running to support group’s veterans services.
- YMCA-Tim Steiskal, director, sales & member engagement, Patchogue YMCA and Brookhaven Roe Y Center , a triathlete running to support YMCA programs
- Rolling Thunder Coach Steve Cuomo and special needs athletes.
- Jolene McCarthy, running in her second Suffolk marathon to support Homes for Our Troops, for disabled veterans.
Training Runs:
Join Captain Joseph Imbriaco, Commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Company in Suffolk County every Monday morning at 6 AM in Sayville at the Sayville -Smithtown Running Company, located at 49 Main Street in Sayville. This is a free training run, open to the public.
Train with Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who hosts a training run series in various towns throughout the county. *Featuring post-run gatherings at select restaurants and taverns. Scheduled Training Runs: July 28th Six Mile Run at Argyle Park, Babylon. August 18th at Smithtown Running Company, Smithtown (pending permit approval) Run distance is TBD. September 15th at the Sayville Running Company (pending permit approval) Run distance is TBD.