This year saw the racing events expanded, with the addition of a true downhill event, featuring the Adaptive Sports' Center's 4-wheel "gravity machines" which are wheel chairs dedicated to downhill racing. Also new this year, was the opportunity for all disability groups to race off-road, which is an expansion of the main event: The hill climb and cross country handcycle races at CBMR, which was contested on the amazing One-Off Handcycle, designed for serious off-road work by Mike Augspurger, who is also a co-organizer of the event and sponsor.
On Saturday 16th August 2008, Darol Kubacz achieved his dream of becoming the first paraplegic to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro purely under his own power. Reaching 18,400ft, Darol completed the grueling climb in 10 days and sat higher than any other paraplegic has climbed without help.
The new course is the toughest in the history of the event, with an overall climb of over 16,000ft, organisers are keen to ensure participants have prepared adequately for the world's toughest wheelchair and handcycle race. A list of qualifying events is due to be released by the start of November, with upcoming events in both the USA and Europe counting towards qualification.
Challenge Alaska, organisers of the famed Sadler's Alaska Challenge are getting set to make an announcement about the 2009 extra special 25th Anniversary race known for being the world's hardest wheelchair and handcycle race.
"Former" quadriplegic Aaron Baker is hitting the road, in style. The world youth motocross champion and professional biker who broke his neck to join the quad club in 1999 has gone on to defy the odds and make a remarkable recovery. Able to walk with a cane, the paralysis still affects him physically (technically he is still a quadriplegic, with severe muscle weakness) but not to the extent that he had feared when lying in the dirt after a crash, with no feeling below his neck. Or indeed to the extent that his doctors told him, their diagnosis was that the quadriplegia and paralysis would be irreversible.
Hilary has been a quadriplegic for the last 7 years thanks to a progressive degenerative disease called reflex sympathetic dystrophy and has no movement below her neck, but she's already set sailing records. She became the first quadriplegic sailor to cross the English Channel to France in 2005, and then last year she completed a solo circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight.
The British Columbia Mobility Opportunities Society (BCMOS) is a non-profit organisation that aims to allow people with significant physical disabilities the chance to take part in hiking and over night camping. Based in Vancouver BC, Canada BCMOS makes use of the TrailRider all terrain wheelchair, which allows people with severe disabilities and paralysis to get into the wilderness.
Obviously we love handcycling here on pushingthelimits, and love being able to head off pretty much anywhere we want at the drop of a hat. Whether taking the dog for a walk, daily 20 milers for fitness or long multi-day camping trips, handcycling gives you so many options. Recreational or racing, short distances or marathons, choose the level you feel most comfortable at and go for it.
For those in the USA just enter your postal code or destination name (we suggest the postal code method, most times we got no results from a destination name even though a postal code search of the same area turned up the goods) and be rewarded with a list of nearby outdoor resources.
On May 10 and 11, 2008 nine competitors from the West Coast of the USA and Hawaii, with disabilities that include amputees, quadriplegia, paraplegia, and muscular dystrophy will compete in the Western Surfing Association's (WSA) West Coast Championship at Churches Beach in San Onofre, Calif.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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