A memorial run is being held in Bermuda for Olympic marathon triallist Ryan Shay, who died five miles into his race the day before the New York Marathon.

Bermuda international Ashley (Couper) Estwanik knew Ryan's young wife Alicia as a fellow Stanford University athlete. Ashley and husband Chris Estwanik also crossed paths with the 28-year-old Ryan when he was training on woodland trails in California.

The couple are appealing to Bermuda's running community to show support for Alicia Shay, herself an aspiring Olympian, as she comes to terms with losing her husband.

The plan is to walk, jog or run a non-competitive 5.5 miles on December 2 from Astwood Park, taking a photograph of all those who participate to send to Alicia. The distance is equal to that covered by Ryan in the Olympic marathon trial race in New York last month.

"Chris and I want to show Alicia and Ryan's family that even here in Bermuda, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, people know who Ryan was and what he accomplished in his short life," Ashley said.

In the past few weeks a number of memorial runs have been organised in Ryan's name by Stanford athletes around the US.

Ryan hoped to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics and was amongst 130 elite runners in the US marathon trial race in New York. Wife Alicia was with him and was running from point to point on the course to wave encouragement. The US Collegiate women's 10,000 metres record holder had seen Ryan at the five-mile marker and then made her way a few miles further along the course only to learn that Ryan had collapsed at five-and-a-half miles.

The cause of death is still being determined, but it appears Ryan simply out-ran his own heart; his drive and passion for the sport proving too great even for his own body to keep up.

Ashley said: "Chris and I would see Ryan out training in the woods in California. He would come past almost as though he was sprinting and then you would see him an hour later still going at the same speed.

"What has happened is a huge shock. You do not expect someone who is as fit as a fiddle and in the Olympic trials to just drop dead."

The Estwaniks were following the progress of the US Olympic trials on the internet when they realised something had happened to Ryan.

Ashley knew Alicia as a fellow Stanford team-mate and a one-time summer lodger. As part of the Stanford alumni she has been contacted by other team-mates and friends through chain e-mails about ways to show support to Alicia and Ryan's family.

The idea of memorial runs has taken off, with a number of such events already staged in the US. Ashley believes it would be a good way for her and Chris, and the running community of Bermuda, to show its support and also show that Ryan is remembered beyond the shores of the US.

The memorial run will be 5.5 miles — the distance Ryan covered in his final race — starting from Astwood Park parking lot and going along South Shore past The Reefs and back. It will start at 9 a.m. and is a non-competitive event open to anyone who shows up and want to walk, jog or run.