Man shows he ‘can’ by racing to record finish

Gwena and Gerry Herman were driving along Interstate 95 when they learned of Daniel Romanchuk’s big win at the Boston Marathon.

They knew him when he was just 2 years old, when he joined their Baltimore athletic program. Romanchuk, who’s now 20, had trained with them through high school, and in April won the men’s wheelchair race in Boston. Not only had Romanchuk taken first place, he had become the youngest person and the first American in 26 years to do so.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Gwena Herman posted on her Facebook page. “So so happy for him!!!”

Then 10 minutes later: “So so exciting. Daniel is one of the hardest working athletes we have ever had come out of the program!!”

Romanchuk’s victory showed an athlete at the top of his game. His 1 hour, 21 minutes and 36 seconds finish was a new American record and the culmination of years of training and discipline.

But his win also showed the significance of a phrase he heard often while growing up and training in Maryland and which he has been known to reference in interviews: “Teach kids they can before someone tells them they can’t.”

That is the motto of the Bennett Blazers, the adaptive sports program at the Kennedy Krieger Institute that Gwena and Gerry Herman started in 1989. The program, which is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA, has helped hundreds of children with physical disabilities participate, and many times excel, in sports they might not have been able to try otherwise. They can play wheelchair basketball and wheelchair softball. They can swim and compete in sled hockey.

They can win big and important races.

STEPHEN POND / GETTY IMAGES Daniel Romanchuk of the U.S. leads the pack on his way to winning the Men’s Elite Wheelchair race during the Virgin Money London Marathon this past spring.