Student Organizes 5K To Benefit Canton Police Department

Editor's note: the following was submitted by Sequoyah High School's Briana Outlaw.

Roman Vish, a senior at Sequoyah High School, conducted a 5K that benefited and raised money for local policemen for his senior project.

A large crowd of participants and organizers gathered at Vish’s event held Nov. 5 at Etowah River Park to show their support for the Canton Police Department.

Vish’s primary focus in pulling off the event was finding a suitable course for the 5K, creating a committee, and seeing the event run seamlessly from start to finish.

Evidently, organizing a charity 5K requires copious attention to detail and demands the time and effort of various individuals. With this in mind, Vish reached out to Pacer Cordry, the community outreach officer of the Canton Police Department.

With Cordry’s aid, Vish was able to make this 5K -- held in conjunction with the department's Nov. 5 Police in the Park community celebration -- extremely successful and truly unforgettable.

Initially, Vish and Cordry wanted a course that began in downtown Canton and ran down Riverstone Parkway, through Heritage Park and across the bridge back to Etowah River Park. However, this course would have required the city to close major roads and shuffling runners to and from the area.

Vish and his committee embarked on a new course for the event and over the course of several meetings, the student and the committee settled on Etowah River Park as the main focal point of the race.

The out-and-back route began at the park, looped through Heritage Park and ended back at Canton's newest facility.

Additionally, Vish’s 5K was USATF certified, which meant that the race served as a qualifier for the famous Peachtree Road Race.

A total of 88 people took part in the 5K and another 20 who participated in an accompanying fun-run.

Along with the races, the event included numerous attractions, such as food, a helicopter appearance, shaved ice, a crisis management vehicle, a police K-9, public demonstrations, a DJ, live music, children's entertainment, awards for runners and booths and vendors representing local companies.

Overall, Vish said he believed the 5K was a great success, and added that roughly $3,000 was raised to benefit the Canton Police Department.

Photo: the start of the 5K benefiting the Canton Police Department