Just found out that a wheelchair race has been added to the Brigette Schutzman Festival of Miles, 6:30 p.m. April 28 at the St. Louis University High track.

Racers from the Disabled Athletes Sports Association will compete in a high school-age wheelchair mile. Four of the five are nationally ranked in their age group, according to Ben Rosario, co-owner of Big River Running and one of the organizers of the event.

The wheelchair mile joins a slate of five other races, which includes an attempt at the first sub-4-minute outdoor track mile in Missouri. The marquee race has drawn a field of the best young milers in the Midwest, including Jordan Fife, a 3:59 miler, who has qualified for the Olympic Trials in the steeplechase, and Jordan Horn, who finished 15th in the 2007 US 10-Mile Championships. 

The proceeds from the event go to Brigette Schutzman, a member of the SLU track and cross country teams, who suffered severe brain injuries in a car crash on New Years Eve. She was in a coma for six weeks and is learning to walk and talk again. Her progress is miraculous, as she walked for the first time by herself on Monday. She and her family plan to attend the festival, which will end with a spaghetti dinner.

Click here for more information on an event that is inspiring on so many levels.