New York City Marathon a full circle moment for disabled runners

Thursday, 19 October 2023

A group of impaired Christchurch runners, armed with their trusty guides, will tackle the New York City Marathon which is the founding event for their charity organisation.

“If the only thing stopping Mike from running is a pair of eyes, well he can borrow mine,” running guide Vanessa Gopperth says.

Running a full marathon is an incredible feat for most, regardless of whether you can see the rock, pothole, branch or children to dodge ahead of you.

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Gopperth is one of four trusty guides who will help four Achilles Christchurch runners with disabilities take on the biggest challenge of their running careers yet by tackling the New York City Marathon next month - the founding event for their charity organisation.

Blind runners Mike Asmussen, Douglas Chee and Blair McConnal, and amputee Rob Martin will join the 50,000 runners that attend the event in the United States.

Achilles club runners (with sponsor Mike Jones, centre): Cadigan Locke, Rob Martin, Dianne Locke, Vanessa Gopperth, Douglas Chee, Anton McLean, Trish Chee and Mike Asmussen.

All four are members of the Achilles Club, which helps disabled runners run to their full potential by pairing them with able-bodied guides.

Asmussen was born with visual impairment. He has 10% sight in his left eye and is totally blind in the other. He got into running after the 2010-11 Christchurch earthquakes.

“Work was destroyed, home was moderately damaged. I got myself into a rut and was looking for a challenge to get myself out of it,” he said.

Asmussen originally started training for an Outward Bound course, which included “reasonably dangerous” solo runs in the early hours of mornings, when there were fewer cars and traffic to navigate.

He then became one of the first members to join Achilles Christchurch, a running club set up by Blind Low Vision NZ about to celebrate its 10th anniversary next year.

“It was about running in safety really,” Asmussen said.

Gopperth (second from left) says guiding is a challenge “like driving a car, you have to watch for all of the hazards all of the time”.

“Guides are a pretty specialist sort of activity because depending on the disability, depends on the challenges that the runner needs to face … for me it’s trees, scooters, bikes, unpredictable dogs and children.”

That’s where guides Gopperth, Rosie Hey, Britney Thomas, Anton McLean and Dianne Locke came in. They helped by searching and calling out each potential hazard for their partners.

Gopperth had been running and guiding Asmussen for almost eight years and said being a part of the “inclusive and diverse” club had made her “a better runner”.

“I’m gonna go for a run anyway. It costs me nothing to have somebody with me and if the only thing stopping Mike from running is a pair of eyes, well he can borrow mine,” she said.

It would be the first official full length marathon for the group, except for experienced runner Chee, 75, the oldest of the group. He ran his first and only 42km at the Christchurch Marathon in 1992.

Jones, centre, has sponsored the running club’s signature fluorescent yellow Achilles running tops and jackets for the New York City Marathon.

Chee now had just 5% visibility in one eye, which was “virtually disappearing on me” due to glaucoma, he said. Achilles was a “fantastic organisation” helping him continue his passion.

“It’s certainly going to be an adventure,” he said ahead of the marathon on November 5.

“It’s not gonna be [a] personal best or anything because I’m past that stage. It will probably take five or six hours, but the main thing is to get to the finish line whether that’s a run, walk or crawl.”

The New York Marathon was “the flagship charity event” for the international Achilles organisation, which made the occasion extra special, Gopperth said.

New Yorker Dick Traum became the first amputee to run the New York City Marathon in 1976, and created the first Achilles Track Club afterwards to help give the same opportunity to other people with disabilities.

“It really just symbolises that resilience and recognition that everybody can participate at whatever level they are able to, and that's what we do, we make that happen, so it's pretty cool,” Gopperth said.

The Christchurch group meet every second Sunday for a run around Hagley Park followed by coffee at the Antigua Boat Sheds. The club has 30 regular athletes and nearly 70 volunteer guides.

Antigua Boatshed and Cafe owner Mike Jones has sponsored the signature fluorescent yellow Achilles running tops and jackets for the 20 club members from around the country heading to New York.

The group has two Givealittle pages set up to help fund their trip.