Racers hope to win, inspire

Racers hope to win, inspire
 

June 27, 2005

As he raced along the streets and highways of Farmingdale and Bethpage yesterday, Jesse Walsh saw inspiration in the faces of children in wheelchairs who watched from sidewalks and driveways.

"I saw kids in powerchairs, the ones who can't move at all, and I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm kinda lucky to have this ability to do what I do,'" Walsh said.

What the 20-year-old Lloyd Harbor man was doing was taking his place among the fastest wheelchair racers in the world.

Walsh was one of 94 men and women who came from all over the world to compete for $25,000 in prizes in yesterday's Nick Katsounis Memorial Wheelchair Championship, a 6.2-mile race.

After his first race in a year, Walsh was exhausted but relaxed. He placed 24th in the men's open division, the fastest group, made up of men who have full use of their arms.

"Every time I go out, I try to push hard," Walsh said happily after the race. "If you have stress, you have to work that out. You put that stress and frustration out into that chair."

Walsh, a Cold Spring Harbor High School graduate, had been one of the top 10 junior wheelchair racers in the country, but stopped training a year ago to concentrate on his computer science studies at the Massachusetts Career Development Institute.

He suffers from arthrogryposis, a congenital muscle disorder that left him with only bones and tendons in his legs. When he was 12, his torso became too heavy for his legs to support.

He began racing in wheelchairs with the help of his coach, Katsounis, who suffered a fatal heart attack in 2001. After Katsounis' death, Walsh's mother, Geraldine, took over the race he started in 1992.

The Katsounis Memorial is one of five competitions that make up the America Series, a two-week circuit of elite wheelchair races in Toronto, Long Island and Georgia.

South Africa's Ernst Van Dyk, a five-time Boston Marathon champion, took first place in the men's division, earning $3,250 for his finish in 20:45.7. It was an accomplishment, after finishing second three of the past four years.

"I really wanted to win this one," said Van Dyk, who won three medals at last year's Athens Paralympics. Canadian Diane Roy took the women's title, winning a $750 bonus on top of the $3,250 first-place check for breaking her own course record, finishing in 24:04.1. Franz Nietlispach, 47, who won four straight Boston Marathons from 1997 to 2000, won the men's master's race in 21:36.4. The Switzerland native earned $1,350 for the victory.

Walsh said he hopes some of the children watching the race can see a brighter future for themselves. "When they're looking at me, I'm saying, 'I hope this inspires them,'" he said.