Some of the world's greatest paralympic athletes are looking forward to Friday's Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. Forty of the 110 lucky enough to compete in the Peachtree are training this week at Cedartown's Pre-Peachtree Training Camp.

Wheelchair athletes traveled from as far as Switzerland, Australia, South Africa and Japan to attend the three-day camp before competing in the world's largest 10-kilometer race.

"It's gotten really big," said the Rev. David Grove, the camp's co-chairman. "And it's lots of fun."

Grove helped get the camp off the ground five years ago after a chance meeting with Franz Nietlispach, a five-time Boston Marathon winner training for the Peachtree in the streets of Cedartown.

Nietlispach was a member of the Swiss Paralympic Team from 1976 to 2000. In 1999, he traveled from Switzerland to compete in a race in New York. Rather than return to Switzer-land before the Peachtree, Nietlispach and his racing companion opted to take advantage of Cedartown's tranquil streets to train during the in-terim.

After meeting Nietlispach, Grove decided he wanted to help open Cedartown to as many paralympic athletes as possible. Together with friends Lori Barton and Larry Kuglar, he worked with Nietlispach to create a camp for athletes to train for the Peachtree.

The Pre-Peachtree Training Camp was a reality in time for the 2000 Peachtree Road Race.

Grove said the camp provides approximately $300 worth of food, housing and transportation for each athlete during training. Lodging is free, thanks to the local Holiday Inn.

He estimated a supplemental contribution of between $5,000 and $10,000 from the city of Cedartown.

City official Barry Atkinson reported that in addition to this contribution, which helped fund services such as street sweeping and a barbecue dinner for 600 afterward, Cedar-town collects private donations for the camp throughout the year.

"We act as a clearinghouse for donations," Atkinson said. On Monday, this year's total had reached approximately $15,000.

The Pre-Peachtree Camp co-incides with the Cedartown Road Races for Wheelchair Athletes, two of the eight races of the U.S. Paralympics America Series.

Krige Schabort, the host ath-lete of the Cedartown Road Races, is a South African citi-zen who has lived and trained in Cedartown for the past five years.

Schabort is the reason that the Pre-Peachtree camp has become so popular, Grove said.

All the athletes are on a first-name basis with Krige, who has managed to spread the word about the camp throughout the paralympic community during the past four years.

The word has spread among locals, as well. Cedartown resi-dent Junior Davis volunteered to support the camp by riding along the course with the athletes during practice.

Unfortunately, Grove said, the camp can accommodate only 40 of the 66 competitors expected at the Cedartown Races this year. Although the races might expand in future years, Grove said the camp probably will not be able to afford a comparable expansion.

For now, additional athletes are staying at nearby hotels in Cedartown. There are even two refugees from Cameroon staying at Cedartown's homeless shelter this week who will be racing free of charge in donated chairs.

A $20,000 pool of prize money is available to paralympic ath-letes competing in the Peach-tree. Entries are organized "so everybody can win," said Bob Anders, the camp's training coordinator.

The American Series, which concludes with the Peachtree each year on July 4, includes races in Long Island, N.Y., and Cedartown. The total prize fund for these eight races is $75,000 - enough for some athletes to make a living off winnings, said racer Jessica Galli.

The camp's athletes hail from 9 different countries. American athletes like Jacob Heilveil, who came from Seattle to com-pete in his seventh Peachtree, travel across the country to train in Cedartown.

College teams from the University of Arizona and the Uni-versity of Illinois are also at-tending the camp this year. Joseph Miller, an Illinois team member for a little over a year, said that his team has prepared for the Cedartown and Peachtree races with hard track workouts five to six times per week.

Miller predicts his team will do well this year. This seems quite possible with the help of last year's Peachtree winner Christina Ripp, who will enter her senior year at the Univer-sity of Illinois this fall.

When asked if he was excited to be competing in his first Peachtree, Miller responded with an enthusiasm that seemed to be contagious. "Of course I'm excited," he said. "I'm always excited!"

Supporters who missed the Cedartown Road Races can still catch the athletes in action on Friday.

The Peachtree Road Race begins at 8 a.m. on Friday.