2 friends, both paralyzed, to ride in the Pittsburgh Marathon together

Danny Chew was Attila Domos’ race adviser, now he is getting advice from his student

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For Attila Domos and Danny Chew, this year’s Pittsburgh Marathon brings their athletic relationship full circle from just 20 months ago.

In August 2016, it was Mr. Chew, a world-renowned long-distance cyclist, serving as adviser to Mr. Domos in his quest to set a 24hour hand-cycling record. Mr. Domos is paralyzed from the waist down after a falling accident 25 years ago.

For much of the last year, in preparation for next Sunday’s marathon through the streets of Pittsburgh, it has been Mr. Domos now serving as adviser to Mr. Chew, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a biking accident in September 2016.

Next Sunday, they will race the same 26.2 miles together in their hand-cycles.

“Life is weird, that’s all I have to say,” Mr. Domos said.

They have different race goals: Mr. Domos, a two-time winner of the race, hopes to win again, riding under 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Mr. Chew, in his first significant race since he was paralyzed — he raced in a 5K fundraiser race last year — hopes to break 3 hours and stay ahead of some of the elite runners who will start 10 minutes after the hand-cyclists and wheelchair racers.

Because of their challenges and passion to overcome them, and the media coverage that has tracked the story here and internationally over the last two years — as well as Mr. Chew’s longtime notice as founder of the Dirty Dozen bike race — both are now well-known Pittsburgh characters.

Marathon race Director Patrice Matamoros expects them both to get significant attention along the race course because of their story.

She said she was hoping both men would be in this year’s race for just that reason.

Their collective story “is remarkable and inspiring and motivational,” she said. It almost didn’t come to be. This will be Mr. Domos’ fifth race, and he is regularly one of the first, if not the first, of the hand-cyclists to sign up.

But Mr. Chew kept marathon officials guessing and didn’t sign up right away. When Ms. Matamoros heard he was considering the race, she checked around to see if he was training and waited to hear from him.

Eventually, just over a month ago, Mr. Chew reached out to Mr. Domos and others and asked if he could still get into the race — which has a cap of 25 hand-cyclists and wheelchair riders because of the challenges of providing proper management for their races.

Ms. Matamoros immediately said he could, making him the 24th hand-cyclist or wheelchair racer, with a complimentary entry, for which Mr. Chew said he was thankful.

Mr. Domos, who likes to tease