Even though Grandmas Marathon is still moving on as scheduled, many wheelers have decided to pull out of the competition. Notable names including Aaron Pike, Jenna Fesemyer and Susannah Scaroni have all withdrawn from the race.

Scaroni, who previously qualified for the Paris Paralympics, has chosen to not participate in the marathon to prevent possible illness and injury as she prepares for the Paris games.

Scaroni also explained that wheeler’s utilize rubber in both their gloves and hand rings on their wheels, which can create slippery conditions for the racers.

“The best analogy I think was like kind of like running on ice. What I’ve been looking at more because I’ve worked really hard on my rain preparation, so I feel like from the technical issues regarding slipping, I feel comfortable with that,” said Scaroni.

The temperature is the most worrying weather factor, explained Scaroni who added that some of her teammates have previously experienced frostbite in cold and windy conditions.

“Because we’re traveling at faster speeds, being able to stay warm is really important. For example, Boston Marathon was really cold and rainy in 2018, and so I ended up taping garbage bags to my arms and my upper body, and what that did I think, was I was still soaking wet underneath it, but it was warm water because the plastic insulated the moisture,” said Scaroni.

Grandma’s Marathon Marketing Director Zach Schneider says any decisions made on the status of this week’s races will be made early Saturday Morning.

“All the races, all the events for Race Weekend are on as scheduled. The forecast is calling for rain throughout most of, if not all of, race day on Saturday and then scattered potential for thunderstorms and lightning, which is the X factor and what might result in some decisions having to be made as to the status of the race,” said Scheider.

For more information on Grandma’s Marathon, go to Home – Grandma’s Marathon (grandmasmarathon.com) or Grandma’s Marathon – WDIO.com