50 Marathons in 50 States in 50 Weeks
Back in 2013, Paul Erway, Aaron Roux, and Grant Berthiaume decided to complete 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 weeks. All three men have a spinal cord injury and are competing in wheelchairs. The two races out of the 50 I have chosen to focus on were on September 16, 2013 in North Dakota and September 17, 2013 in South Dakota.
Race number twenty-nine was in Bowman, North Dakota at Bowman-Haley Lake. However, they encountered many mishaps before even getting to the race. They flew into Omaha, Nebraska and the rental car company did not have their car ready (as they needed a car with hand controls). The only car they had with hand controls was a Ford Excursion, however it was so tall they had a lot of trouble getting in and out of it, especially getting in after races when they were already so tired. I cannot conceive the exhaustion they felt after propelling their wheelchair for 26.2 miles, having to pull themselves into a tall SUV, and then pull their wheelchair in. Another issue they had with the SUV was getting gas. In North Dakota there are not many gas stations and their SUV had very poor gas mileage. They almost ran out of gas, however were lucky to come across a gas station. It costed them $108 to fill it up and that was back in 2013. Rental car companies should have more options for people with disabilities, especially since they had reserved a car ahead of time.
The Bowman-Haley Lake marathon was a 1.0917 mile out and back course that was to be repeated twelve times. On the website they said it claimed to be "mostly pavement, small segment of gravel with a few low hills." Paul said, "the reality was: start down a gentle hill on a chip seal (tar laid down, then sharp stones are dropped on it while still wet) segment (a.k.a, 'pray you won't get flat tires' until you get close to a mile in), then onto a dirt path for the turnaround, climb back up the hill for a mile (again praying for no flats), and then do this 12 times." In our biomechanics class, we had a wheelchair lab where we practiced propulsion in a parking garage on campus. Personally, going up the mostly smooth concrete incline was very hard and I can only imagine how hard it would be on a rough surface, especially for 26.2 miles.
Race number thirty was in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Online the race was described as, "The riverwalk. Fairly flat, just a couple of small hills, surface is concrete." The trio was shocked to find out it was a sidewalk for 26.2 miles. Many people think sidewalks are great for wheelchairs because they are "smooth" as they are concrete. However, when in a wheelchair you can feel every pebble you roll over and every groove or crack in the concrete. Propelling for 26.2 miles on a surface like this would not be ideal. When thinking about the accessibility of a marathon, one would assume as long as its not in the woods, it'd be an accessible trail, however that seems to not be the case.
Another factor Grant and Aaron had an issue with is passing people. Their racing wheelchairs had angled wheels which made them wider than an average wheelchair. The sidewalk was about as wide as their wheelchairs, so when passing, Grant and Aaron had to yell up ahead and let the runner know they were approaching. Then the runner had to get out of the way to allow for Grant or Aaron to get by them. They said that most of the runners would just get off of the sidewalk completely to allow them to pass. This makes me realize how hard it must be to use a wheelchair full-time. Using a sidewalk while in a wheelchair is hard as you have to communicate to the people ahead of you if you need to pass them to get where you are going. I have a lot of respect for what Paul, Aaron, and Grant have accomplished and am glad they can be examples of what people in wheelchairs have the capability to do.
Erway, P. (2019). 50 abilities, unlimited possibilities: Racing to the final finish line from salt lake city to the mountains of montana. Silver Tree Communications.
