Wheelchair Race 2014
For those customers who are getting the paper on Tuesday, find about about events for the 2014 Wheelchair Race in Cedartown and road closings on page
Thirty wheelchair athletes are in Cedartown for the 2014 Wheelchiar 5K that will see city streets shut down for the race.
Colorful flags representing the athletes’ country of origin will be going up on College Street in the coming days and the “Welcome to Cedartown” banner will soon be flapping in the breeze above Main Street.
First Presbyterian Church pastor and organizer Dave Grove said more than 30 athletes from around the globe will be converging on Cedartown for the July 1 wheelchair races.
Racers who are heading to Polk County this weekend include Tatyana McFadden, who has won all the major wheelchair marathon races in the last year and took home seven gold medals during the 2013.
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racer Raymond Martin, who also holds world records of his own, will also be participating.
Grove said a number of athletes who usually participate in the race each year are being drawn away from Cedartown by other races that were scheduled around the same time as this weekend’s camp and race on Tuesday.
The popularity of Cedartown’s wheelchair race depends largely upon what other events are happening not just in the region, but around the world. He said a number of countries hold events right around the same time as the annual race here. Yet every year, athletes still return to Polk County to press their luck before the Peachtree race.
“It effects us, it won’t really get any bigger,” he said. “It’ll stay about the size it is now as racers come and go.”
Grove said what will draw more attention and popularity for the race is increased community support on race day.
A “Meet the Athletes” Block Party will take place Monday, June 30, from 6 p.m. until 9 in Downtown Cedartown. Live music will be provided by the Booze Mountaineers.
The big racing event that draws hundreds of residents and guests to Cedartown’s College Street area will take place Tuesday, July 1, at Peek Park. A Kids Fun Run begins at 6:30 p.m. The Women’s and Quad’s Race starts at 7 p.m. and the Men’s Race at 7:30 p.m. Afterwards, the Cedartown Junior Service League will host a free movie, Rio 2, in Peek Park at 8:30 p.m.
Organizers are looking to make the race a fixture on the wheelchair racing circuit in the future, Grove said, in conjuction with national and international organizations.