Ryan Clifford is an ultramarathon runner. A short distance for him is a 31.07 miles also known as a 50K. But he took a shorter 26.2 mile marathon on for just the 2nd time – and won 14 minutes ahead of the 2nd place runner.
Newsday mentioned that Ryan ran distance events for MacArthur High School in Levittown, and Mansfield University.
Bellmore / Merrick PAL track team has a Grand Prix during the Spring and Summer Seasons. There are 5 mile races in the Grand Prix. The athlete needs to run 3 of the 5 races to be eligible.
Our first race was the Bellmore Striders July 4th race.
Arianna Lettieri was the first female, 12 years and under with a time of 8:09.7
Livia Mikelhashvili was third in the same age group with a time of 8:34.6
Thomas Howe was the 3rd male in the 12 and under age group with a time of 7:04.3
Bellmore PAL is a registered USATF team during the Summer, Cross Country and Winter seasons.
USATF Long Island recognizes outstanding athletes regardless of age.
In 2022, Bellmore PAL was recognized in the Youth category.
Lucas Lam (13/14 )- Youth Male Track Athlete
Samantha Goldin (8 ) – Youth Female Track Athlete
An alumni of the team, Ryan Clifford, was recognized as the Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) Athlete of the Year.
Ryan started with Bellmore PAL as an elementary student, ran while in high school, and in college.
Ryan still holds the record for the Indoor and Outdoor 800m in the 11/12 yr age group. Ryan is a lifelong runner specializing in ultra-marathon distances. In 2022 some of the races Ryan ran were 2 – 50 mile races, 2 -100 mile races, 2 – 50k races, 1 – 70k race, 1 – 555m race over 6 days from Buffalo to Brooklyn. Many of Ryan’s runs were also done for charity like the John Thiessen Children’s Foundation.
Non-athletes are also recognized as outstanding. For 2022 Coach Sheryl was awarded Official of the Year.
Our athletes ran the 2nd mile race of the Bellmore PAL 1-mile Grand Prix. It was the Long Island Road Racing Club Ducks Mile held at Eisenhower Park on Wednesday, August 3rd at 7:00 pm.
The weather was hot, but all the athletes and coaches who participated had fun.
Congratulations to all the runners! Let’s keep running!
The 3rd 1-mile race of the Grand Prix is the Moonlight Mile being held at Newbridge Road Park on Friday, August 12 at 7:00pm.
It was a hot and humid morning at 9:30 to run a mile race, but our athletes did their best to get to the finish line.
It was a nice friendly atmosphere with athletes, coaches and parents running this race together. No one “letting anyone win”, each runner, parents and coaches included, had to work for their place at the finish.
Lucas 6:18; Casey 7:08; Ryan 7:52; Lilliana 8:06; Nathan 8:10; Collin 8:33; Natalie 9:17; Mia 11:27
The final race of the Bellmore-N.Bellmore/Merrick PAL track team Grand Prix will be on Saturday, Sept 4 in Farmingdale.
This is the 3rd mile race of the season for our athletes – 2 more to go! Yay!
The race started in waves from 6:30 in Newbridge Road Park. Two of our athletes were in the 1st wave and did us extremely proud like all of our athletes regardless of their wave. Again many of them improved on their time. At this race we were joined by 2 of our alumni – John Schwab and John Schmuck who were 1st and 2nd overall.
Another enjoyable evening of racing, friendship, camaraderie and after race snacks. It was awesome to hear the older and more experienced runners encouraging these young athletes!
Lucas 5:58; Casey 6:47; Ryan 7:23; Nathan 8:00; Collin 8:13; Layla 9:18; Natalie 9:20
What a great job guys! Showing off the results of your hard work at practice.
Next race is the Bellmore PAL Mile at Cedar Creek Park in Seaford on Saturday, August 21.