Brian Siemann never imagined completing a marathon in his lifetime, let alone competing in any sport.<\/p>\n
Paralyzed below the waist since he was 6 days old, Siemann is now preparing to race in his 17th consecutive Chicago Marathon. The wheelchair race begins at 7:20 a.m. Sunday in Grant Park, shortly before the runners begin.<\/p>\n
After his New Jersey high school track coach encouraged him to try the sport, and his classmates raised money for his first racing chair, Siemann wanted to extend his racing career into college. But few, if any, opportunities were near him on the east coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople kept always mentioning Illinois as somewhere to go,\u201d said Siemann, 36, now a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a senior access specialist for the school\u2019s wheelchair track and road racing team.<\/p>\n
The University of Illinois\u2019 program has become a powerhouse in wheelchair athletics, perennially sending athletes to major marathons worldwide, Paralympic games and world championship competitions.<\/p>\n
Nine of the team\u2019s 15 athletes are competing in Sunday\u2019s marathon.<\/p>\n
That includes team nutritionist Susannah Scaroni, who also has competed in the Boston, New York, Berlin, London, Sydney and Tokyo marathons each year since 2017. She is a six-time Paralympic medalist, winning one gold and one silver, across four of the most recent games in Paris, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and London.<\/p>\n
Since 2015, Siemann has completed yearly marathons in Boston, New York and London, while also racing in the four most recent Paralympics and earning two bronze medals along the way.<\/p>\n
Head coach Adam Bleakney chalks up the University of Illinois\u2019 wheelchair racing success to its trailblazing history, which has brought abundant resources and support staff to carry on its winning tradition.<\/p>\n
The school was long ahead of its time when it established its wheelchair racing program in 1948, the first of its kind worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important piece of that [successful] equation is our student athletes, and we have a critical mass of very motivated, talented athletes,\u201d Bleakney said.<\/p>\n
Adam Bleakney, University of Illinois wheelchair track and road racing head coach.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n University of Illinois\/Provided<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cParalympians, Paralympic medalists, world champions, world record holders, Chicago marathon winners, other major winners, who all train together each day. And that\u2019s unique,\u201d he said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen anywhere else in the world. And it\u2019s that culture and that environment which breeds continued success.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chicago Marathon has always been special for Siemann, not only because it \u201cfeels like our hometown race,\u201d but because he has partnered through the marathon\u2019s mentor program with young athletes in the Chicago region to help keep them involved in sports.<\/p>\n He eagerly participated because he wanted to show younger people \u201cthat there are opportunities and avenues for you.\u201d His previous mentee, from Rockford, now plays for the University of Wisconsin wheelchair basketball team.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many kids that are disabled that just don\u2019t know that opportunities like this exist,\u201d Siemann said. \u201cEven today with increased coverage and exposure, there\u2019s still so many people that it\u2019s difficult for them to even get involved in sports.\u201d<\/p>\n Scaroni may be an exception. Despite growing up in a small, rural eastern Washington town, she was \u201cfortunate\u201d to have an adaptive sports team in Spokane that she joined at 10 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cI also am lucky that I had a really supportive family. My mom really insisted that I go the first time, and it was an hour drive one way for her to take me, and she\u2019s a single mom, working full time, so it was definitely really supportive of her. And I fell in love with it immediately,\u201d said Scaroni, 34, who was paralyzed at 5 years old after suffering serious injuries in a car crash.<\/p>\nGrowing the sport \u2018a real opportunity\u2019 that needs \u2018philosophical buy-in\u2019<\/b><\/h3>\n
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