LaGRANGE- Kids were off to the races Wednesday afternoon at the Whitesville Road Track during the annual Fastest Kid in Troup County contest.

Participating in the countless exciting races during the event were male and female (third-fourth-fifth grade students) from the 10 different elementary schools in Troup County (Whitesville Road, Hollis Hand, Long Cane, Franklin Forest, Ethel Kight, Callaway, Berta Weathersbee, Hogansville, Hillcrest, Rosemont).

“This event started in 1996 by the ‘I Train in LaGrange” program and it was a collaborative effort between the school system and the program,” said Greg Hall, the Center Manager for Troup County Parks and Recreation. “The county and us got together and we decided that we wanted to promote track in the community and us putting this track event together was a part of it.”

“I Train LaGrange” was a program initiated prior to the 1996 Olympics, when several teams trained here.

A total of 200 youth participated with each team wearing their own T-shirt representing their school.

There were three events that occurred: the 4×100 meter relay, 4×200 meter relay and the 60-meter dash. The event started out with each school running the preliminaries, with the top three advancing to the finals. The winners in each event got a medal.

“This is a real cool thing,” said Hall. “The kids love it. It’s something that has gone on for years. They look forward to it. The parents and the schools look forward to it as well.”

 

Shirttail- Reach James Simpson II at 706-884-7311, ext. 2155, or by email at james.simpson@lagrangenews.com