Blind Man Coaching Runners To Run BAA 5K With Blindfolds
BOSTON (CBS) - Twenty-five sighted runners will be blindfolded when they run the BAA 5K along with 6,000 other runners on Sunday.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Rod Fritz reports.
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Those 25 runners have been training for weeks on what it is like to run a competitive race blind.
Joe Quintanilla from the National Braille Press is helping to train them.
Read: Boston Marathon Guide
"That's the point. We want to get across with the Blindfold Challenge is that when people take the blindfold off that they're not going to take it off and say 'Oh thank God I'm not blind,' but instead they're going to say, 'You know, with the right support and skills, blind people can do anything,'" said Quintanilla.
Quintanilla is blind and has run the Boston Marathon twice. He coaches runners now, but hopes to run the marathon again some day.
"The talents and skills of a blind person are no different than a sighted person. With the right support, they can accomplish those with the right skill training. That's what the Blindfold Challenge is intended to do and the B.A.A. has allowed us to participate in their 5K in this way."
The race will begin Sunday morning at Copley Square and finish at the Boylston Street finish line of the Boston Marathon, across from the public library.
