Zoomy-Zoom on Zoom — Sam McIntosh

“Why do you race?” After over a decade, you’d think I would have a default answer for this rather regular question. But, honestly, when it’s asked, my brain tends to whir and wander through the many different aspects of my life and career of an elite wheelchair racer. As expected, the complete answer is increasingly multifaceted. It touches on fitness, self-improvement, aspirational physical goals, seeing the world and its many cultures, promoting para sport, educating the world about physical activity for disabled people and so much more. But this week, one of the most important parts of this answer was brought to the forefront.

We can all agree at this point that quarantine sucks and opening the news tends to leave us with a bit of a sour taste in our mouths, hearts and minds. We seem to fill this void with mindless things such as memes, Netflix binging and lots of naps. However, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by awesome people who remind me each and every day to do something aspirational and productive, even during these days of stir-crazy cabin fever.

On Monday night, I was reminded of just how amazing and supportive of a sport I’m able to be involved in. It’s something I am routinely reminded of throughout the year at competitions both locally and internationally. As a whole, the para sport community is built around pushing the confines of disability and frankly just exercising and having fun bettering ourselves. There’s nothing more satisfying than setting a new personal record, top speed, or nailing a technique you’ve been working on. While in isolation, there’s only so many stationary rollers sessions you can do before you forget what it’s like to be out on the track surrounded by your teammates.

The Boston Marathon, founded in 1897, was birthed because of the advent of the marathon in the first Olympics in Athens (1896). It has defined the event and is a cultural phenomenon, overcoming huge obstacles, including the 2013 bombing. With such a rich history, it has become a cornerstone of the racing world for all able-bodied, ambulatory, and wheelchair athletes alike. This year, the Boston Marathon had been scheduled for April 20 with the men’s wheelchair start time at 9:02am EST and the women’s wheelchair start time at 9:04am EST. Of course, this event was postponed due to COVID-19. The reigning men’s wheelchair Boston Marathon champion, Daniel Romanchuk, however wasn’t going to take this sitting down (yes, this is a joke). With a quick blast over his Facebook fan page, a flurry of text messages, and frantic outreach just a couple of days before, he called out to wheelchair racers across the world to join him on April 20 at 9:02am EST for 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 4 seconds (the current wheelchair marathon set at the 2017 Boston Marathon) to do a Virtual Boston Marathon over Zoom. Seventy-one people were on the video call, including 64 wheelchair racers from 12 countries across the world participated in this amazing event to come together and show the world that we’re still going strong and adapting, much in line with the spirit of para sport and reminding me of the core of why I love this sport, why I love what I do, and I love the community I do it with.

Among the 64 racers, were some huge names in the para athletics world. This included Marcel Hug of Switzerland (the current marathon world record holder), Manuela Schär of Switzerland, Tatyana McFadden of the USA, and my own teammate Eliza Ault Connell, just to name a few. Alongside these iconic names of para athletics there were also many budding athletes basking in this opportunity and showing off their skills. As you all know, my forte is in sprinting, so 42.2 km or 26.2 miles was a little out of my normal range. Attempting the whole distance, with zero training, while it would have satiated some macho pride that I definitely don’t have, would probably have been a bad call. Not to mention, start time here was 11:02pm AEDT. The adrenaline pumping in my afterwards had me wired until about 1am.

During these tough times, it’s amazing to be reminded of what we can collectively do when we take a little bit of initiative, come together, and make the best of a crummy situation. COVID-19 may have us trapped in our homes and on our stationary rollers, but the spirit of community and drive in my fellow athletes never ceases to amaze me and will never be snuffed out, not even by this pandemic. That is why I race.