The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Tandems take on area’s top road race
Oneida, Vernon duos compete in annual 15K race
Three years ago, mother and son Barbara and Rhys Wil- liams were denied the chance to run in the Boilermaker due to safety concerns the first time they tried to enter the field.
The Oneida tandem can now count themselves as 15K finishers.
After running the 5K the past two years, Barbara and Rhys competed in the 40th annual 15K on Sunday and finished in 1:57.49.
“It was insane,” said Bar- bara. “It’s amazing how many people are along the entire course cheering. That kept me going. I didn’t think I’d finish in under two hours. The crowd was the only reason I was able to do so.”
Running the area’s biggest road race provided a huge thrill for Rhys, a 14-year- old who has cerebral palsy and is legally blind. He rides in an adaptive jogging stroller, pushed from behind by Bar- bara, and the tandem team competes in close to 10 races per year including local favorites like the Wilber-Duck Mile, the Nate the Great Race and the Falling Leaves Road Race.
With her husband fighting colon cancer in 2012, Barbara began running as a way to relieve stress. She started taking Rhys with her the following year after a friend suggested it and now credits his enjoy-
ment of the activity for keeping her going.
Barbara began working with Athletes in Tandem when she started running with Rhys and said the Colorado-based group and its founder Dennis Vanderheiden helped her select a stroller and work with race organizers to be able to compete.
One f ield that was tough to crack was the Boilermaker. Barbara and Rhys were initially denied entry in 2014, with race organizers under the impression they were similar to another team that included pushers and bikes that could cause a safety hazard to the other runners.
“I totally understood where they were coming from,” said Barbara. “I was mad at the time but once I realized where they were coming from, that was different.”
She continued to work with race officials and was allowed to enter the 5K with Rhys in 2015 and 2016, starting at the back of the field. This year, they ran the 15K for the first time and started with the wheelchair racers 15 minutes before the rest of the field. Barbara said it was safer for the other runners to be passing them rather than the other way around, likening it to a car passing a tractor-trailer on the Thruway.
The Oneida tandem was one of two local teams to run the 15K, along with Howard Holdridge and his stepdaughter Emily LaGoy of Vernon, who had also competed in the 15K the previous two years after Boilermaker officials reached out to them.
“I get the joy of seeing my daughter Emily feel the same exhilaration when we cross the finish line as I do when I run solo,” said Holdridge. “She inspires me. It’s very inspiring to see individuals like themselves, special needs individuals, enjoying able-bodied events like the Boilermaker. It’s fun.”
Holdridge has been running with LaGoy for nearly five years, including the training runs. They started with the Wilber-Duck Mile and moved from there to other races and joined the Boilermaker when they were invited in 2015.
“It’s an honor,” said Holdridge. “They’re very accepting. The running community is very accepting of a tandem team and the wheelchair competitors. It’s about inclusion.”
Barbara was happy to finish in under two hours, especially considering she had just finished rehabbing a knee injury from March days prior, but wasn’t nearly as thrilled as Rhys. Her co-worker who passed them near the finish line said he looked back and Rhys “couldn’t have had a bigger smile on his face if he tried.” Although Rhys is nonverbal, his teacher also told Barbara how excited he was to discuss the race when he returned to school.
“It gives them something to do that’s typical,” said Barbara. “Typical kids look forward to races. They look forward to going to sporting events and having competition. It’s a way for them to have the same experience.”