In May 2019, Madison Police Captain Joseph Race will participate in the Police Unity Tour, a bike ride to raise awareness for the officers who have died in the line of duty and to raise money for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum in Washington D.C.

Race, along with other officers, will ride from Portsmouth, Virginia to Washington D.C.—roughly 250 miles—for this cause. The nearly 2,000 cops will ride into D.C. together at the end of the tour for a ceremony and vigil for the fallen.

So far this year about 120 police officers have been killed on the job. While the tour is for all fallen officers, Race is riding in honor of two officers, Officer Robert Atkins and Officer Wayne Olson, who served on the same police force as Race’s father in Summit, Wisconsin and were killed in the line of duty back in 1975.

“Right after the first of the year in 1975, a farmer was killed chasing someone who was stealing his car,” he said. “Because of that they put two officers to a car and Wayne and Rocky were riding together and this same individual...killed them both in their patrol car behind the police department.”

The killer was a 16-year-old kid who was found to be criminally insane. For a small town of only a couple hundred people, three murders in a two-week period shook the community, according to Race.

“Their story kind of shaped everything,” he said. “My dad was a part time cop when they were murdered and then he went to full-time, so that is how his career got started there and he ended up retiring as the chief 38 years later…I am doing this to honor them and honor that police department and to honor my dad as well. The first thing I did was ask my dad if it’s OK for me to ride for them.”

When Race goes home for Christmas, he plans to meet with the current chief in Summit and hopefully one of the widows in the area. A lot of the lead-up to the tour is sharing the story of these two officers and what the tour is about.

“Part of the Unity Tour is a fundraiser so it is to raise money for the memorial and the museum that is down there, so I do have to hit certain goals—a total of $2,000—but I am going to ride for them,” he said. “I am going to get the bracelet with their names on it and I am going to have their pictures on my bike as I ride and there are opportunities to stop and talk to people along the way and tell them.”

Race will take part in Madison’s Small Business Saturday festivities on Nov. 24, pedaling a stationary bike dressed as Santa.

“That’s what I want to do on Small Business Saturday because I want people to ask me about this and I want to be able to share with them this story,” he says.

To learn more about Captain Joseph Race and his participation in the Police Unity Tour or to donate, visit www.firstgiving.com.