The 8th Annual Human Performance Company MS Gran Prix was held in downtown Brookhaven during the weekend of April 17-19. In 2008, the race helped raise $30,000 for the Blair E. Batson hospital in Jackson, and this year, sights were set even higher.
The funds helped to build a new children’s emergency room, and this year’s total, which hasn’t yet been calculated, will go toward stocking the new department with necessary medical equipment.
The hospital, which is the children’s branch of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, treated 1,400 children from Lincoln County alone last year, and serves a total 150,000 Mississippi children annually.
One of Blair E. Batson’s new patients is Emily Barber, a 4-year-old Lincoln County resident who was recently diagnosed with a nerve cancer called neuroblastoma.
Jennifer Hospodor, Blair E. Batson assistant director of community affairs, said the race helps raise not only money for the hospital, but also awareness, as people become more familiar with what the mission of Blair E. Batson is.
One of the pre-race festivities was a welcoming party for 11-year-old cancer survivor Colby Barrett. A Brandon native, Barrett is currently recovering from a muscle cancer—rhabdomyosarcoma—which develops during the embryonic stage.
The cancer struggle has prompted Barrett’s mother, Cathy Germany, to enroll in Hinds Community College’s nursing program.
The race began on Friday night with the downtown Bank of Brookhaven Criterium at 7 p.m. This was followed by a Saturday morning, 80-mile Human Performance Company road race, which began at Heucks Retreat Baptist Church. A 4-mile “Just Kiddin’” time trial was held Saturday afternoon, beginning at Union Hill Baptist Church and running along Nola Road. On Sunday morning, a Physiotherapy Associates Circuit Race was held at Co-Lin Community College.
Riders have come from as far away as California in the past, though most of the competitors are from Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida.
The MS Gran Prix draws a few nationally known riders to Brookhaven. Michael Olheiser, a World Masters champion and a Warp-9 Team member competed this year. Olheiser, an Alabama native, is a 2-time national champion and a road race champion. He finished 3rd at the Friday night Bank of Brookhaven Criterium this year.
Prize money total for this weekend, including individual prizes and team payouts, was $20,000.
For more information about this year’s race, visit www.msgranprix.com.
Filed under: Medicine / Injuries | Tagged: www.thesportingspirit.com
