The McQueens at the NYC Marathon 2009

Paula Radcliffe might have struggled through adversity to complete the New York City Marathon on Sunday but her suffering is nothing compared to that of the participants that my aunt and uncle, Anne and Davie McQueen, assisted around the 26.2 mile, 5 borough race. Each year Anne and Davie run with the Achilles Track Club team who have linked up with Odyssey House, a treatment centre for people struggling with substance abuse problems. They work with adolescents to senior citizens, parents and mentally ill chemically abusing individuals, they take care to see that all these individuals get the best treatment available to overcome their drug problems.

Anne and Davie both took part to assist people who have come through Odyssey House treatment programmes in their goal of taking part and completing the marathon. Considering the struggle that they have come through to conquer drug and alcohol problems, doing the marathon is an amazing achievement and without the support of experienced guides they would probably not make it to the finish line. You can read more about their team here.

Davie ran with a guy called Frankie Rivera, who is pictured above with Davie (no 55985) and they completed the marathon in a respectable 5 hours and 29 minutes. Anne helped three people round who, in the words of Davie “would never have made it without her, they were all very grateful to Anne when they received their medals” and although it took them over 8 hours it was a truly remarkable performance.

So the real stars of the show, in my belief, are not necessarily the Tulu’s and the Radcliffe’s at the front but the unsung heroes like the Odyssey House team and people like Anne and Davie that make the dream come true for them. Well done guys, you should be really proud of yourselves!