Rob and Everyone
Personally I think handcyclists belong with other cycling events not running
race. That being said it is tough to find other handcyclists at those events
for some reason. Last summer I thought the event in Fitchburg would've had a
bigger turnout because it was so close to Boston and NY. The Achilles Track club
gets 80+ racers to go to NY for their marathon but they never responded to any
of my email about bringing a fraction of them to Fitchburg. This summer I'm
working with the Green Mtn Stage Race in VT and again the Achilles folks haven't
responded. The marathon in Burlington had 11 handcyclists though so I'm hoping
to get most of them to come out, but so far you are the only one to register.
Patrick from Northeast Disabled Athletic Assoc. has said he pass the info along
to the marathoners but I haven't heard from them.
If anyone else out there is interested in racing in the Green Mtn Stage Race
I have a registration page setup at
https://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6543. You can also email me
at ecorbett@... for more info or with any questions.Erik


To: handcycling@...: rentalbarn@...: Tue, 1 Jul 2008
18:09:41 +0000Subject: [handcycling] Regional Events




I want to race my handcycle but it's now July and my last event was a Marathon
back in December. Where do we belong Marathons, Cycling events I don't care I
have read all the arguments I just want to race. While the USHF is working on
quality events we need to get handcylests out on the track in numbers so our
sport can gain popularity. I don't know anything about how these events our set
up but I do know a little about putting on a competitive show. I have run
competitive events many years as a competition director for regional Tractor
Pulling events. Handcyling needs regional groups of interested handcyclist
before we find venues that will accept us. Last year at the historic Fitchburg
cycling event there was 5 of us. 5 Handcycles scattered on a 1 mile Crit course
put people to sleep. I am sure if we had 10 or 15 and the spectators got to see
some head to head racing we would have been invited back. What is hard for me to
understand is Fitchburg is less then a days travel from New York, Philly,
Baltimore Washington if we can't get more then a handful of riders out of this
area there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We also need to build a list
of handcycle friendly events. Last fall I did 2 marathons Steamtown with it's
mulch trail and Cape Cod with it's hills while neither particular handcycle
friendly courses the organizers were very enthusiastic and accommodating. I am
not an elite handcyclist but put a dozen of us middle of the pack racers on the
course at one time and you have a show. Just throwing this out, if you don't
like it throw it back.






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