This Sunday, I volunteered as a part of the Medical team for the BAA Half Marathon. Stationed at Medical Tent 4 around mile 2.5, I got to see the awe-inspiring performance of the first few athletes leading the race in push rim wheelchairs. Tony Nogueira, a 10-time BAA Half Marathon winner, later won the men’s wheelchair division with a time of 54:16, while Carla Trodella won the women’s wheelchair division with a time of 2:54:44.
Although people have been competing in the Boston marathon in wheelchairs since 1970, wheelchair athletes did not get officially recognized until 1977. Bob Hall, who was told by the race director he’d get an official time if he finished in under 3 hours, completed the race in 2:58 and became the first officially recognized wheelchair competitor. Thousands of athletes have since been able to compete as official competitors in the wheelchair division of the Boston marathon.
Bob Hall
A few months ago, wheelchair racing observed another landmark event. The Abbott World Marathon Majors, which include the famous marathons in Boston, New York, Chicago, etc., announced that it will include an elite wheelchair athlete division in which winners will be awarded a monetary prize. I think this is a huge and very important step in finally officially recognizing these competitors as athletes whose achievements measure no less than those of athletes competing in non-wheelchair divisions. Although there may be those who feel that separate divisions such as for wheelchair racing “other-izes” those who have a disability, I feel that it does the opposite. These divisions allow athletes with disabilities to be not only a part of the big racing community, but also a part of the smaller community of athletes they are competing with, and increases public awareness about the incredible accomplishments of these athletes.
I was watching the Tufts Women’s 10k a few weeks ago and saw a young girl in a bright pink racing chair go by- it was awesome to see her racing at a young age, and it’s a testament to how far wheelchair racing has come. Another really cool moment was when I was running across the Queensboro bridge last year during the NYC Marathon and passed and Achilles International athlete who was doing the race by pushing himself in his chair, backwards, with one leg. Definitely puts things in perspective. I do some work with adaptive running locally, let me know if you ever want to get involved.
I really enjoyed the blog topic, but in the future it would be great to incorporate some links, maybe an embedded video, etc.