{"id":794625,"date":"2019-04-08T20:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T02:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/boston-marathon-to-add-para-athlete-divisions-in-2020\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T20:16:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T02:16:00","slug":"boston-marathon-to-add-para-athlete-divisions-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/boston-marathon-to-add-para-athlete-divisions-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Marathon to add para athlete divisions in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.824154589372\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-364202-907\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Marathon_Para_Division_66852-f8905-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Marathon_Para_Division_66852-f8905.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Bill Roth \/ AP | Anchorage Daily News | Marko Cheseto, a college All-American who lost both feet to frostbite after being stranded outside in an Alaskan blizzard in 2011, competes in the Skinny Raven Half Marathon during the Anchorage RunFest in Anchorage, Alaska in August 2018. After making his marathon debut in New York in 2018, Cheseto will run in the Boston Marathon on April 15, with the goal of competing in the race's new Para Athlete division in 2020.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Marathon_Para_Division_66852-f8905.jpg\" alt=\"Marko Cheseto, a college All-American who lost both feet to frostbite after being stranded outside in an Alaskan blizzard in 2011, competes in the Skinny Raven Half Marathon during the Anchorage RunFest in Anchorage, Alaska in August 2018. After making his marathon debut in New York in 2018, Cheseto will run in the Boston Marathon on April 15, with the goal of competing in the race's new Para Athlete division in 2020.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"15\">\n<p><strong>Marko Cheseto, a college All-American who lost both feet to frostbite after being stranded outside in an Alaskan blizzard in 2011, competes in the Skinny Raven Half Marathon during the Anchorage RunFest in Anchorage, Alaska in August 2018. After making his marathon debut in New York in 2018, Cheseto will run in the Boston Marathon on April 15, with the goal of competing in the race&#8217;s new Para Athlete division in 2020.<\/strong><br \/>Bill Roth \/ AP | Anchorage Daily News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Marathon_Para_Division_66852-f8905-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Marathon_Para_Division_66852-f8905-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rich Pedroncelli \/ AP File Photo | AP | Marla Runyan leads the field of runners during the women's 1,500-meter semifinals at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, California in 2004. Runyan is leading the Boston Athletic Association's efforts to give more physically impaired runners a chance to compete for Boston Marathon titles. Starting in 2020, the Athletes with Disabilities programs will be restructured into a set of Para Athlete divisions that will award the top men and women prize money and give them a spot on the podium.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"9\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Marathon_Para_Division_66852-f8905-1.jpg\" alt=\"Marla Runyan leads the field of runners during the women's 1,500-meter semifinals at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, California in 2004. Runyan is leading the Boston Athletic Association's efforts to give more physically impaired runners a chance to compete for Boston Marathon titles. Starting in 2020, the Athletes with Disabilities programs will be restructured into a set of Para Athlete divisions that will award the top men and women prize money and give them a spot on the podium.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>Marla Runyan leads the field of runners during the women&#8217;s 1,500-meter semifinals at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, California in 2004. Runyan is leading the Boston Athletic Association&#8217;s efforts to give more physically impaired runners a chance to compete for Boston Marathon titles. Starting in 2020, the Athletes with Disabilities programs will be restructured into a set of Para Athlete divisions that will award the top men and women prize money and give them a spot on the podium.<\/strong><br \/>Rich Pedroncelli \/ AP File Photo | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/boston-marathon-to-add-para-athlete-divisions-in-2020\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/boston-marathon-to-add-para-athlete-divisions-in-2020\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">BOSTON \u2014 When Marko Cheseto lines up in Hopkinton for the start of the Boston Marathon next week, he will already be looking past the finish line, 26.2 miles away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It\u2019s next year, when organizers will christen three new para athlete divisions, that he will have a chance to claim something he covets even more than a new personal best: a full-fledged Boston Marathon victory, and the possibility of climbing the podium on his two prosthetic legs just steps away from the spot where so many lost their limbs in the 2013 finish line attacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI want those who were injured through that to know that we are here with them,\u201d said Cheseto, an All-American distance runner at Alaska-Anchorage who lost both feet to frostbite after he was stranded in a blizzard for 56 hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe, as human beings, are very resilient; we have a lot of good people out there; we can show our solidarity out there,\u201d said Cheseto, a native Kenyan who became a U.S. citizen in November \u2014 seven years to the day after he went missing. \u201cTogether, we can do good things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The world\u2019s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon, Boston was the first major 26.2-miler to include a wheelchair division, in 1975. Once again, the wheelchair racers will be the first to break the tape on Boylston Street on April 15, when the Boston Athletic Association stages the event for the 123rd time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But scattered among the field of 30,000 that follows will also be people riding handcycles, running on prosthetic legs or conquering other physical impairments in the hopes of a personal best, or the satisfaction of finishing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThey\u2019re coming to our events, and no one knows they\u2019re there,\u201d said Marla Runyan, a two-time Olympian and five-time Paralympic champion who has led the association\u2019s Athletes with Disabilities program for the past two years. \u201cThe B.A.A. wants to see people to see them for the athletes that they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Starting next year, the organization will award titles \u2014 and prize money \u2014 in three divisions, recognizing not just the wheelchair racers who have been an official part of the race for four decades but also ambulatory runners who are visually impaired or amputees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe wanted to make sure that we were paying attention to this emerging element of the sport,\u201d B.A.A. CEO Tom Grilk said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Runners will compete for a $1,500 top prize \u2014 men and women \u2014 from a total purse of $16,500 that is on top of the $125,000 prize pool for the wheelchair division.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Runyan, who was the top American woman in Boston when she finished fifth in 2003, has helped create qualification standards for next year\u2019s para athlete divisions, and she will invite runners who meet them. The organization is also hosting a U.S. para athletics classification session during marathon weekend. (For example, Cheseto is T62, double below the knee amputation; Runyan, who is legally blind, competed as a T13 against other runners with visual impairments.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think it\u2019s been a long time coming,\u201d said Adam Popp, who lost part of his right leg to an improvised explosive device while serving with the Air Force in Afghanistan. \u201cThere\u2019s no other race out there that\u2019s going to provide what they do. And now that the ball is rolling, hopefully more people in my situation will get into the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That would be a \u201chappy accident,\u201d Runyan said, which could lead more races to include para athlete categories; that, in turn, could encourage more runners with physical impairments to run. Ultimately, Popp would like to see a Paralympic marathon for lower-limb amputees, which hasn\u2019t existed since 1996.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat would be my dream. But that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been waiting for since November of 2015,\u201d he said. \u201cI know a lot of other people have been waiting longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Popp, who finished the Los Angeles Marathon in 3 hours, 29 minutes, 36 seconds last month on what was supposed to be a Boston training run, said one the biggest obstacles for para athletes is having peers to train with, or run with, or even just to see on the course demonstrating what is possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cFor people who have been there, that are in the hospital bed and they have started training for their 5K, they really need those peers to look up to and kind of guide the way,\u201d Popp said. \u201cI think that what the Boston Marathon is going to do in 2020 is bring in elite level para athletes who can show others who might be coming up through the recovery what\u2019s going to be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Some of them, Popp knows, will be among the hundreds who were wounded on Boylston Street in 2013 by two pressure cooker bombs with a design that maximized lower limb injuries, and were horrifically effective.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While the events of 2013 don\u2019t motivate the B.A.A., Grilk said, it has made them more aware of a community that looks to the race for inspiration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe role of 2013 is that more people are watching,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if it turns out that what we\u2019re doing is favorably received by people who were so adversely affected by what happened to in 2013, then so much the better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/boston-marathon-to-add-para-athlete-divisions-in-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marko Cheseto, a college All-American who lost both feet to frostbite after being stranded outside in an Alaskan blizzard in 2011, competes in the Skinny Raven Half Marathon during the Anchorage RunFest in Anchorage, Alaska in August 2018. After making his marathon debut in New York in 2018, Cheseto will run in the Boston Marathon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 10:59:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}