One pair of eyes, two sets of legs
Running marathons is not usually considered a team sport, but for blind runner Paul Barclay and his guide Rosie Hay, it’s teamwork that will get them over the finish line.
From telling him which direction to move in to when to duck for low hanging tree branches, Hay is effectively her partner’s eyes during a run.
“I tell him, ‘people are going crazy for you’,” Hay said. “He just says, ‘I might not see anything, but there’s nothing wrong with my legs, so I might as well use them’.”
The pair are among 5000 runners taking on the Christchurch Marathon on Sunday. Barclay is one of two Achilles athletes with a disability running the full 42km.
Giving up sport was never an option after he lost his sight in a car accident 36 years ago at the age of 22.
He went on to play both blind cricket and goalball (a dedicated sport for visually impaired athletes) for New Zealand, and decided to give running a go in 2018. After his first run around Hagley Park with the Achilles club team, a group which helps disabled runners run their full potential by pairing them with able-bodied guides, Barclay, 58, said he was “hooked”.
This year’s event will be his ninth full marathon since completing his first in 2020, and he has another 15 half marathons under his belt. It also marks his fourth marathon guided by Hay, 40, a flight attendant for Air NZ, who will complete her 20th marathon this weekend.
The pair have developed great communication and a close connection over years of running together, they say.
“The guides have an enormous job,” he said. “They need to be thinking about not only their own body space, but my body next to them.”
Navigating the twists and turns in the course for two sets of legs will be the challenge for Hay, while Barclay said the hardest part for him is the first few kilometres – when the course is most congested.
His goal is to complete the marathon in under four hours, a target he has achieved once before.
“I’m a cold climate person, so I’m hoping for a cool morning, cloudy with no breeze.”
Barclay, who runs disability and employment consultancy Vision Without Limits, is running the New York Marathon in November and Hay is in his two-person guide team for the race.
“Paul is the most amazing, humble and kind human. The trust he places in me to let go and propel himself forward, just because I’m telling him to, it’s amazing,” Hay said.
“I get to see the inspiration he gives people.”
About 10 guides have helped Barclay over the past year, who had all been “incredible”. He was particularly grateful to the Achilles guides.