June 30, 2014
A very special thanks from the Achilles CT family to Half Full Brewery owners Connor Horrigan and Jordan Giles for their generous support of Achilles. As many of you know, Half Full named Achilles CT as their charity recipient.
More info about Half Full Brewery at http://halffullbrewery.com.
The race was absolutely amazing! A beautiful course along the water in Stamford. Picturesque!!
Congratulations to racers Tony Allegretti, David Alejandro, Jen Gonzalez, David Solano, Kelly Weed, Chris Lee (also a new athlete and first time at an Achilles event!), and Rob DeLuca.
Achilles guides were Jon Romeo, Cindy Drozd, Mary O’Connell (new guide and first Achilles race), Marni Luby (and her 3 daughters), Karianne Rosvold (new guide and 1st Achilles race), Grit Rorrio, David Hoffman (1st Achilles race), Chris Deneen, and Anja DeLuca.
As great as the race was, the “after race” festivities were even better. Half Full had a wide selection of beverages for athletes, guides, and family members to enjoy.
Erin Spaulding manned the Achilles info tent (as well as selling beverage tickets). Thanks to Joe Dowling and Tom Stearley who stopped by in the afternoon to lend their support.
As you think about your race calendar for the 2015 season, be sure to make this one a priority!
June 22, 2014 | by Lori Riley from the Hartford Courant
Erin Spaulding was in the middle of training for a half-marathon when one day at work, a 350-pound cabinet came loose from the wall above her desk and fell on her head.
That was in 2010. Three years later, she did get to run her half-marathon, at Disney World, with two people running beside her.
“I have some visual problems, balance and coordination problems,” said Spaulding, 42, of Branford. “I have to run with two people beside me in case I fall.”
The two people were volunteers from Achilles International, started in New York City in 1983 by amputee Dick Traum. The organization helps people with disabilities compete in road races and triathlons. Spaulding joined in 2012 and is now the president of the Connecticut chapter, which has about 45 athletes and 110 volunteers.
They compete all over the state — Sunday, a group will be in Glastonbury at the Firecracker 5K. On June 29, a large group will be in Stamford for the Half Full Brewery 5K, as Achilles is the charity recipient of that race.
They are visually impaired, like David Alejandro of Naugatuck, who runs with a guide runner. They are quadriplegic athletes, like Tom Branchaud of Simsbury, who races in a wheelchair. They are amputees, like Brett Sloan of Simsbury. Or they are like Spaulding, who had to learn how to walk again after she was injured, graduating from a walker to crutches to a cane, before she could run.
“I used a lot of that determination I had when I was training for triathlons and long-distance running,” Spaulding said. “I channeled that. My physical therapist ran marathons. She worked with me. She told me, ‘You’re going to walk again. Run again. Be patient.’”
Ten years ago, when he was 30, Alejandro was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that causes visual impairment and eventually blindness. He can still see, but his peripheral vision is limited and it helps to have a guide when he is running, especially in a crowd.
“I was going to do my first marathon [in New York City in 2010],” Alejandro said. “A lady picked me out of the crowd — I was looking for the color code for my [pace] time. I told her, ‘I can’t really see that well. I’m visually impaired.’ She said, ‘Are you with Achilles?’”
He wasn’t. So she took him to the Achilles tent.
“It felt like home,” he said. “They asked me if I needed a guide. I said, ‘Sure.’ So the first time I did a marathon, I had an Achilles guide. I did not know they had a group of people that help you. Even my wife thought I was crazy [to do it alone].”
He finished in 4 hours, 41 minutes. In 2011, he finished in 4:30. This year, with his guide, Jon Romeo, he finished a half-marathon in 1:58:19, a personal best.
“He’s a little bit faster than me,” said Romeo, 50, of Cheshire. “It would never hurt my feelings if he traded me in for somebody faster.
“He prefers to run with a tether. We each hold an end of it. We run wrist to wrist, elbow to elbow. When there are things to navigate, we are closer. It’s harder than running by yourself. You have to be very aware of lots of things, like if the road is uneven. I make mistakes all the time. David is very good-natured about it.”
Romeo got involved as an Achilles volunteer at the New York City Marathon about six years ago. Volunteers get different runners at different races, so Romeo has run with a number of runners in the big marathons. But Romeo and Alejandro have been racing partners at many races in Connecticut. They will run the NU Hartford Marathon in October and NYC in November.
The Achilles club encourages members to try new things. Alejandro, who joined in 2010, competed in a half-Ironman triathlon in New Hampshire in 2012. He had to learn to swim properly first.
Branchaud, who was paralyzed in a car accident in 1991, has raced in wheelchairs since 1995 and also plays rugby. He decided to compete in his first triathlon in 2012 in Madison, using a borrowed handcycle. There, he met Spaulding and joined Achilles. Branchaud now has his own handcycle, with some funding help from Achilles, and hopes to compete in more triathlons this summer.
“Instead of having to borrow equipment, which wasn’t quite right for me, now I have a competitive handcycle with 20 gears,” he said. “That was huge for me.
“It’s been great. For such a young chapter, Erin’s done a great job of making it grow. We also have a lot of people who are guides. There is so much out there I had no idea about. It was amazing when I saw [Dave] running. I was blown away by all the stuff people have been doing.”
For more information about Achilles International in Connecticut — either competing or becoming a volunteer — go to achillesct.org.
Copyright © 2014, The Hartford Courant
Ryan McKeen is an attorney in Glastonbury who is also an avid runner.
He represents injured cyclists, runners, and pedestrians, and sees first hand the need for improved road safety.
Ryan launched a website in 2014… ctroadsafety.com. He also printed t-shirts to raise money for a charity….and we are that charity!
T-shirts can be purchased for $25 a number of ways.
Online at www.youcaring.com
In person at one of the upcoming CT Achilles events.
Through the mail by writing a check and send it to
Achilles CT Chapter
PO Box 2302
Branford, CT 06405
T-shirts will be mailed so please include your address in all correspondence.
Governor Dannel Malloy wearing a CT Run t-shirt at the Susan Koman Race for the Cure!
June 1, 2014
Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Fleet Feet Sports West Hartford, the Achilles Connecticut Team was out in full force at the Simsbury Iron Horse Running Festival on June 1. The money that was raised sponsored 10 incredible athletes in the races!
Brett Sloan (25:49 ), Jennifer Gonzalez (36:46 ), and John Plata (49:10 ) competed in the 5 Kilometer race in the Physically Challenged Division. David Solano (25:48 ) took on the 3.1 mile course in the Visually Impaired Division.
Alicia Novi (1:23:55 ) finished strong in the 10 kilometer course in the Visually Impaired Division. Half Marathon athletes included Krzystof Zybowski (1:00:43), Anthony Allegretti (1:50:16), and Victor Tu (1:20:34) in the handcycle division.
Tom Branchaud (1:42:09) conquered the 13.1 mile course in the Push Rim Division. David Alejandro (1:58:19) had a personal record for the half marathon!
Special thanks to Achilles guides Heather Freeman, Sue Grigley, Meghann Hurley, Lisa Greenwood, Michael Lo Presti, Ashley Boate, Rachel Tambling, Jon Romeo, and Bob Bowmar.
And, finally, a tip of the cap to Erin Spaulding, Tracy Grigley, and Ashley Boate for manning the Achilles Information Table to help spread awareness and gain support for our running club.
May 25, 2014 | by Farrah Duffany Record-Journal staff
Southington athlete runs through visual impairment
SOUTHINGTON — About a year ago, Alicia Novi noticed that her eyes would start to get red easily and then she had constant headaches.
As the symptoms continued she noticed her eyes becoming more and more sensitive to the light. Then she saw a spot out of one eye and soon the vision in both of her eyes became fuzzy to the point where she couldn’t make out images.
Her doctor diagnosed her with chronic bilateral iritis, a type of uveitis, a disease of the eye that can cause periods of blindness or, if left untreated, permanent blindness due to an inflamed iris. The iris controls the amount of light that enters the pupil. When it is inflamed, it can distort a person’s vision. Novi’s doctor treated her symptoms with steroids and dilation.
Despite her condition, Novi, who is now 34, continued to do what she loves: running. At times the condition was so painful and lasted so long that it kept her from a races and practices, but when it would subside, she was back on the asphalt again.
“The first time I couldn’t run for almost a month. I didn’t have enough vision to see by myself,” said Novi, a Southington resident. “You don’t know where you’re running. And I couldn’t go in bright places.”
There are more than 85 known causes of uveitis, and it leads to 10 percent of all cases of blindness in the United States, said Jamie Metzinger, a manager of clinical research with The Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation in Cambridge, Mass. Estimates for the frequency of uveitis are anywhere between 15 to 50 cases per 100,000 people, she added.
“When we do a workup on a patient, one in every two patients we will never find a cause because our testing isn’t specific enough or it doesn’t give enough information,” said Metzinger. “It manifests differently on a case-by-case basis.”
Novi, a 1998 Southington High School graduate, said she was fairly active in high school and college. She picked up running two years ago when she decided she wanted to lose some weight. Once she started, she never realized she would be entering races and running nearly 20 miles a week.
Last year, Novi ran the Hartford 5K race and met a group that helped change the way she runs.
Achilles International provides guides for runners or athletes with disabilities. There are nearly 70 chapters around the world, said Erin Spaulding, president of the Achilles CT chapter.
“They can do it despite any physical disability they may have,” Spaulding said. Novi “because of her visual impairment, needs to run with a guide that may be able to give a visual that she may not have on her own.”
On a bright day, Novi usually tries to run with her head down to avoid the light. She used to wear large prescription sunglasses and a visor when she would run, but that would only help block out some of the sun.
“I practice safe running,” Novi said laughing.
Now a guide helps direct Novi through the course of a race. The guide tells her where curbs are, if there are potholes, how many miles are left, and when they are approaching a hill. Anything a person with perfect vision would need to know the guides convey to Novi. Last year she ran nine races and her goal is to run 10 this year, including the Amica Iron Horse Half Marathon, organized by the Hartford Marathon Foundation, in Simsbury on June 1. Last year she missed it because she couldn’t see well enough. “I couldn’t be outside in that bright sun to run the race,”
Novi said. “I couldn’t see enough to walk it either, not on my own.”
While she runs, Novi said she keeps her father Tom Novi’s wedding ring in her fuel belt. Her father died in February and was a huge support system for her running. He also pushed her to continue despite her condition. “He told me all I have to do is put one foot in front of the other and keep breathing,” Novi said. “He’ll keep running with me.”
She hopes to finish the half marathon in June in an hour and 25 minutes.
“We’re just extremely proud of her,” Spaulding said. “She is the most active Connecticut athlete. I’ve just been happy to support her so she can continue to be successful and to persevere.”
May 19, 2014
Cheshire Sea Dog 5k Road Race
Achilles Connecticut was back in action this weekend in Cheshire at the Sea Dog 5K Road Race.
Congratulations to Tracy Andrews (30:10) and Alicia Novi (41:13) for impressive finishes.
Thanks to Achilles guide Nina Purslow and welcome to new Achilles
We are also grateful to Achilles athlete Gary Allen, and Achilles guides Michelle Smola and Jamie Andrews. While they did not run the course, they did run the Achilles CT booth at the race expo to spread awareness about our organization.
CT guide Katie Reilly!
May 19, 2014
The feature was called “The Remarkable Life Next Door” and detailed Tracy’s inspiring journey from beginning runner to Half Marathon Superstar!
May 13, 2014
The team assembled on the fields of Cheshire High School along with over 2000 athletes for the start of the races. Despite the mostly gray skies, there was a definite excitement in the air. Several miles of the course took runners over the Farmington Canal Trail in Cheshire and Hamden. The rest was over gently rolling hills along quiet streets in Cheshire’s south end.
The five kilometer race featured Kari Craddock with a finishing time of 31:09. Racing in the wheelchair division were Mike Loura, Tom Branchaud, Kris Zybowski, and Tony Allegretti. Tackling the half marathon course were David Alejandro (2:04), Tracy Andrews (2:20), and Alicia Novi (3:13). This was Alicia’s first half marathon!
A big “thank you” to our Achilles Guides Abbey Downing, Anna Zilberman, Roberta Brown, Karen Petit, and Jon Romeo. Manning the Achilles CT tent area and drumming up awareness of the efforts were the amazing Erin Spaulding and Victor Tu.
Next up on the Achilles CT Race Calendar is Simsbury’s Iron Horse Half Marathon, 10K and 5K races in June.