I would personally message either Tom Zeibart (not sure username) or "IronmanCeo" on here.

Not sure of the legal aspects behind "duty to accommodate" in Maryland, but you would think at the very least there should be a spirit or every effort should be made to accommodate you given that you purchased a product under certain "known" conditions, just like every other athlete.

On a side note, the guy who won Ultraman Canada 2 years ago in the PC category had to go over 50 km on dirt roads with steep grades...

The funny thing was he decided to use his every day chair instead of his race chair on the run so he would not gain an unfair advantage over his fellow able bodied athletes.

Best of luck, I hope you get clarification on this.

Maurice

If you are a Facebook user, I would recommend joining and posting on the Ironman Maryland 2016 group. The race director (Gerry Boyle) is a frequent contributor to the group and will likely see your post.

Thanks. I'll give that a shot.

Dan - I'm sending your post to Sarah right now. She is working IM Boulder this week, but will get back to you. Z

Looks like you were able to connect with Gerry via FB and Tom Z here. Hopefully, you will soon have an answer on IMMD. Best of luck with your training and racing.

Sorry just saw and heard this.

Contact Joe Stone from this artical

http://www.runnersworld.com/...-discrimination-case

Try contacting CAF, media.

Last resort and hate to say this sue them your will win but will have to wait to race.

Oh or just show up and race and see what happens.

---

My Blog of Me

What should I do?

Rev3 and Toughman. Both big supporters of our Troops and team RWB.

Thanks for your service and sacrifice.

Hey everyone.

B.McMaster - do whatever you're most comfortable with, but I would ask that you do your best to contact Ironman and let them know that you don't agree with their policies regarding wheelchair athletes.

Only 1/3 of their half and full races are open to wheelchairs. For years leaders within the disabled sports community have been asking IM to open more of their races to wheelchair athletes, but the requests have been flat out ignored. Ironman has reached out to me regarding my participation in Maryland - I won't race there this year, but they have re-funded my fee and have offered me access to any of their wheelchair approved races this year. So I'm settled. But.....this issue is bigger than me. I want Ironman to open up more of their races to all athletes. I'm still having conversations with IM regarding this, and I'm starting to assemble an advisory panel of disabled-sports leaders so that we can offer our assistance to IM. Stand by for updates on that front.

-Dan

I am all in favor of your end goal here. But this might be something that has to be worked on one course at a time. Each venue will have its own safety issues, own local regulations and policing, and different terrain of course.

If you can get in touch with individual race directors and find out what issues they have (likely safety), then you'll have better luck working towards full support. Just my $.02.

I understand your logic, but the goal is to get Ironman to change their standards from the top down. It's IM's responsibility to get as many of their races as possible to be as accessible as possible.

Ironman makes money highlighting the participation of disabled athletes at Kona. They make money on the military division and they make money on military-affiliated races like Superfrog in San Diego, but what they don't acknowledge is that disabled veterans like me aren't allowed to compete in these races. That's BS. This change starts at the top.

I can tell you exactly why Ironman does not want handcycles on their courses. I am going through the exact same situation with Ironman Arizona. I am a Disabled Veteran due to a spinal core injury and am not being allowed to compete in Ironman Arizona. Ironman believes they are unsafe and crowd the bike course in a dangerous way. I was told that the problem lies with mostly multi-loop courses such as Arizona and Maryland. Yet Boulder is listed as handcycle compatible and it is a multi-loop course on both the bike and the run. They won't come right out and say it because it wouldn't be in their best interest so they just stonewall and take their sweet time replying to inquiries.

Adding a few handcycles and racing wheelchairs to a field of 2500 competitors will be no more dangerous than not allowing them. They say that the safety of all the
participants is their priority yet both Ironman Arizona and Ironman Maryland are still taking entries. If overcrowding is a problem then cut the size of the field by 500
and that will make things much safer for everyone. Do you think Ironman will actually give up that money?

They will allow other disabled athletes to compete but they have a very big issue and dislike for handcycle athletes. Amputees who use a regular bike and prosthetic limbs are allowed. Blind competitors who are tethered to a guide two parts of the race and who use a tandem bike are allowed. Arm amputees are allowed to compete because they can use a standard bike. I really tried to be patient and work with Ironman and believed they would come to the right decision in the end, then I came across your situation. I read the articles and watched the videos and realized that I was probably gonna receive the same answer. I did receive a little more information as to the reason why but their reasons do not add up. Ironman is so popular they have no reason to change they way they do things no matter how backwards their
thinking and reasoning. I have done quite a few triathlons and have never received such resistance to participating. In fact all have asked what I needed and offered
any other assistance I may have needed. I told them all I need is permission and it was enthusiastically granted even if it wasn't they way they truly felt. Ironman can accommodate over 200,000 athletes in over 100 events across the entire glove every year but can't accodomate a few handcycles? Ironman can accommdate any
thing they want, handcycles are simply to bothersome to them.

I cant help you all except to support your cause. IM should make every effort to give disabled individuals as many courses to race as possible.

Semper Fi my brothers and sisters!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A10co91 and DanB, first of all many thanks for your service. We race in venues freely thanks to guys like yourselves. Not sure I can help, but I will try to alert some people at Ironman to the lack of opportunity they are giving you to do your races. Surely something is possible.

A10c091....were you ever on the crew of an A10 Warthog?

If all Walmarts or Starbucks are accessible then why not all Ironmans?

The only issue would be if there are stairs on the run course or as part of the flow to transitions. For this some volunteer help would cover it. I am pretty sure that almost no Ironmans have technical offroad sections. There is one spot at IM Texas on the run where you have to go steep uphill off camber on dirt for 10 feet. Could there just be an accomodation where volunteers help the racers up these tiny areas? I don't really see why any IM bike courses would not be accessible. Handcycles should work on all courses with appropriate gearing as I have seen handcycle guys climb and descend the 12% grade on Alii drive, so that pretty well covers the "too many hills" reason at other courses.

Maybe flip it around the other way. Should all IM courses not be accessible? What am I missing that would make accessibility impossible. The only thing I can think of is stair so just build a ramp or use volunteers to assist the guys and gals over these. What else is there? It's not like we have doors and major flights of stairs on course. Everything is generally a smooth rolling surface. Getting to swim starts may be tricky, but certainly solvable with volunteer help?

Someone help me with the picture I am missing as to why an event cannot be accessible. It's not like the athletes asking for accessibility are asking for different time cutoffs, so the courses are all open anyway.

Semper Fi and your support is what's needed and greatly appreciated!

Paul, thank you for your reply.

No never part of an a10 crew, just an old Jarhead Dragon Gunner. a10co91 is kind of a nickname my Wife gave me.

I have sent a message to one of the higher ups at IM. By the way at IM Arizona, what aspect of the course do you think makes it non accessible in its current form. Perhaps if we can collectively offer solutions to the IM folks they might figure out what needs to be done to the course to make things happen?

Just a question, why are recumbent bikes not allowed in races?

---

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Aero advantage, for one thing.

---

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

For the most part wheelchair athletes including handcycle athletes do not need accommodation, the just need permission. That being said there are a few who may require some sort of special support from a race or venue. Most disabled athletes want nothing more than to compete.

As far as answering your question, there is really not much keeping any Ironman course from being handcycle friendly. Arizona has only the stairs that would be a slight issue but they are a slight issue for able body people as well and that's why they have volunteers helping on the steps for the swim exit. I'm not to sure about Maryland but with a little accommodation they can all work. Ironman will accommodate all other disabilities except for wheelchair/handcycle athletes. Maybe they don't want to have to get a few accessible port-o-johns. Believe me when I say that most wheelchair athletes will do what they need to do to be able to race and will need little to no accommodation. Ironman refuses to include us because it does not want to, not because it can't.

As far as Ironman Arizona is concerned, it was open to handcycles but for the bike course crowding reason they are no longer allowed. I learned this after flying to Phoenix from Denver, renting a hotel, and renting a car to volunteer in 2015. While there a friend and I were getting coffee at Starbucks and were in line with Three Ironman race officials. I struck up a conversation with them and the specific topic of conversation was me doing Ironman Arizona 2016. The three of them spent the next ten minutes talking to my friend and I and answering our questions about what was expected of me to do the race in 2016. The head official (head of an entire global region for Ironman) then asked for my email address and sent me an email on the spot. He told me I didn't need to wait in line the next morning and to send him an email next week and he would send me a link to register. Our coffee was ready, we said "glad to meet you and see you next year," shook hands and went on our way to our volunteer aid station. At no time did any of the three ever mention that Arizona was not a handcycle course.

The next morning my friend and I woke up at 4:00am and proceeded straight to the registration tent, what kind of friend would I be if I made him go alone. We were about 200 people back and got to the tent after about 30 minutes, I figured since I was there and there were still slots I might as well register, so I did. Received my link a week or so later and registered as a handcycle athlete. Fast forward to May 31, 2016. I received an email stating that Ironman Arizona "due to course restrictions" was not an approved handcycle course and I needed to talk to them immediately. Wanting to deal with this issue as person to person as possible, I called the young woman four separate times and left voice messages explaining the above details about who I spoke with and the important details of our conversation. I never heard any more about the issue and figured she must have spoken with him and the situation had been resolved.

On August 18th I received an email stating that on May 31, 2015 she had sent me an email stating Ironman Arizona was not an approved handcycle course and to get in touch with her immediately. Within two minutes of receiving the email I called three times and there was no answer, again I left voice messages explaining everything. Just to be sure I also sent an email explaining everything and received no reply that day. I waited a couple of days and called again and received no answer. I emailed and immediately received an auto response stating she would be out of the office working Ironman CDA and would have spotty Internet. A few days later she sent an email saying she had spoken with the official I and my friend spoke with in Tempe, the regional race director, and the Arizona race director and they all agreed "we can not make policy changes and must adhere to our current guidelines." She offered to transfer my entry to a handcycle friendly race or a full refund.

Over the next three weeks I have had contact with the official I spoke to in Tempe a few times and and yesterday received his final answer no to Ironman Arizona.

That is where we stand now but I am by no means done fighting.

I raced IM Arizona when it was allowed, I'm told the change was made due to the crowding on the run and the twisty course.

I was hit from behind on the bike course by the second and third drafting F**kers in a paceline so maybe thats the issue the people drafting can't see the handcycles with their heads down?? The bike course is 100% safe for handcycles, its not that crowded.

There is really no good reason to not allow Para-triathletes at every event. It should be up to the participant, I would never race Whistler as I have do desire to do the run they have but if I want to I should be able to pay a crazy amount of money to do so.

I did Roth this year and the run course is anything but wheelchair friendly but no stairs, oh I did the NYC Tri also they have stairs into transition and I still got it done.

I have no idea why IM is so against Wheelchair athletes.

a10co91 keep fighting, I've yet to sign up for a race and told I could not do it but that would not go over well. I don't know much about the ADA laws but my understanding is if they hold the race on public lands they have to allow full participation.


Good Luck

---

My Blog of Me

personally I would move on to the city. I believe if they are giving permits to race the city needs to also ensure that it is ada. You put pressure on the city they then put pressure on ironman

Not a bad idea, I will look into that.