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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!
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1 comments:
The end or your blog says it all; the unsung heroes are the ones who don’t cross the finish line first. The ones in the back battle more adversity, have less technical equipment, use far less trainers, and cross every finish line without it being their full time job to do so. Davie and Anne have been my heroes for many, many years. I have had the pleasure of running in their company many times. In 2007, I started the NYC marathon with them. I may have finished a few minutes ahead, but it was their spirit and devotion that helped push me along to the very end. I am inspired by them everyday. I am honored to call them Mom and Dad. Thank you Alistair for telling everyone their story.
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