Sportable is proud to announce that eight of its athletes will be competing in the HCAVA 8k, American Family Fitness Half Marathon, and the Anthem Richmond Marathon in the Wheelchair Divisions as well as in an Ambulatory Division on November 14, 2015. One Sportable athlete will be competing in the full marathon, five athletes in the half marathon, including two visually impaired athletes, and three athletes in the 8K.
This is the 4th consecutive year that Sportable will have athletes competing in the Richmond events, and this year’s event will feature eight Sportable athletes.
“Our team has worked incredibly hard over the last 10 weeks preparing for these races and all of our athletes are anxious to show what they can do,” commented Sportable Road Racing Coach Karl Kover. “All of our athletes set ambitious goals for what they wanted to achieve during training. It has been such a pleasure to work with these spectacular individuals to help them achieve those goals and compete this weekend.”
To help prepare our athletes for the 8K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon races, Sportable has been hosting a Marathon Training program for participating athletes. This training program has been held every Saturday morning from September 12 to November 7, 2015 at the Sports Backers Stadium and Bryan Park. These training sessions have helped athletes push each other to the next level and have made for friendly competition. This year marks the first year that the Sportable training program has been headed by Karl Cover, an avid runner and a well-known marathon coach in the Richmond community. Cover was a guide runner for Antoine Craig, one of this year’s runners, in 2014.
Marielle Rando, Program Director at Sportable and head of the Road Racing program, states “Sportable is thrilled to have eight athletes compete in the Richmond Marathon races! This event is one of the highlights of our competition calendar and we are excited to see our participation grow in this event. We are thankful to be able to partner with Sports Backers to offer an accessible community event of this nature, supporting and including athletes of ALL abilities!”
Sports Backers is the host organization for the Richmond Marathon. Sports Backers’ mission is to “produce and support nationally recognized quality sporting events and programs that motivate locals and visitors alike to be more active.” One of their values is Inclusivity in which they “encourage and support the participation of all people in our region.” Working with Sportable athletes is just one of the ways that Sports Backers upholds this value of inclusivity and allows for individuals physical disabilities to compete.
About Sportable
Sportable’s mission is to create opportunities and transform lives. Sportable empowers individuals with physical disabilities and/or visual impairments to enhance their overall fitness and health through sport. We connect these Greater Richmond area athletes to 12 different adaptive sports programs year-round including tennis, soccer, basketball, road racing, rowing, swimming, and more. We also provide them with the necessary adaptive gear that may be cost prohibitive otherwise. To learn more about Sportable and its services please visit www.sportable.org or call (804) 340-2991.
When: Saturday, November 14, 2015
8k Visually Impaired runners & Wheelchair wave start time – 6:58 am (7:00am for regular participants)
Half Marathon Wheelchair wave start time – 7:28am (7:30 am)
Full Marathon Wheelchair wave start time – 7:43 (7:45 am)
Where: 7th & E. Broad St Starting Line
