Wheelchair competitors are making a difference
Print Edition
Gu Haiyan got up at 4am yesterday and spent some time putting on her makeup because she knew many people would ask her for selfies.
This is the third time the 20-year-old wheelchair fencer has participated in the Shanghai marathon. This year, 20 wheelchair athletes took take part: 13 professionals and seven workers from Wisking, a wheelchair manufacturer.
At 5:30am, still in darkness, Gu and her team were at the rallying point about 1 kilometer from the start line on the Bund. The 20 racers started with the rest of the 38,000 runners, but only followed a 5-kilometer route to the Shanghai Exhibition Center near Jing鈥檃n Temple, while the professional runners charge to the Shanghai Stadium for the US$45,000 prize.
鈥淲e started practicing for the race about two weeks ago,鈥 said Gu. Most of the race training took place at night.
鈥淔or me the race is very tiring.鈥 When Gu was 9, a traffic accident took her left leg, but it didn鈥檛 take away her passion for sports, and she became an athlete when she was 14.
Last year, Gu attended the Asian Para Games in Jakarta and won the gold in saber. Now, she is aiming at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo next year.
鈥淪ome of my teammates are competing in the Netherlands as I wait here for the sunrise,鈥 Gu said. 鈥淚 wish them good luck, but what I鈥檓 doing here also makes a difference.鈥
Gu came to Shanghai in 2015. She said compared with her hometown in Sichuan Province, Shanghai is doing a good job on accessibility for the disabled. But she said more than often she still sees people blocking the sidewalks for blind people or occupying barrier-free restrooms. 鈥淪ometimes they just assume we won鈥檛 show up at such places,鈥 Gu said. 鈥淲hich is why I attend the race, to tell them I can be wherever I want to be.鈥
As the sun slowly crawled up, the team assembled near Waibaidu Bridge, where many runners going to the start line stopped and cheered for the wheelchair team.
鈥淚 told you many would ask to take photos with us,鈥 Gu said, putting on a smile and a V-sign when a photographer fixed the camera on her.
At 7am, the starting gun went off. Gu and her teammates wait ten minutes for the other runners to take off.
鈥淭he racers on wheelchairs are coming through, let鈥檚 make some noise for them,鈥 the DJ shouted and the people standing along the street duly cheered for them, but Gu couldn鈥檛 help but laugh.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 imagine how touched I was when I first saw so many people cheering for us two years ago,鈥 Gu said.
Camaraderie counts
Racing side by side with Gu is Zuo Caiyun, a professional wheelchair racer with cerebral palsy. Her disease makes it hard for Zuo to stay in balance, and when she fell behind, volunteer Ren Xiaojing pushed her to catch up.
Ren and her six colleagues work for Japanese enterprise Konica Minolta. The company signed an agreement with the disabled people鈥檚 federation in April this year, to provide job opportunities and social security for the athletes.
鈥淢any of them will eventually retire as an athletes, what next?鈥 said Ren. 鈥淲e want to help, as much as we can.鈥
Ren鈥檚 colleague Yan Fangcheng has taken part in the marathons for the past two years, but failed to sign up this year. When she heard the company was recruiting accompanying runners, she didn鈥檛 hesitate at all.
The wheelchair racers catch everyone鈥檚 attention. Slower runners make way for them to pass. 鈥淲heelchair racers coming through,鈥 Zhong Dajian bellowed. Zhong and his wife were taking part for the 16th time this year, volunteering to lead the wheelchair racers and clear the way for them. The 62-year-old told Shanghai Daily it was great to see people from different occupations and ethnicities running together.
鈥淓veryone should run freely together,鈥 he said.
The team reached their destination at 8:10am. Officials from Shanghai Disabled Persons鈥 Federation were already there.
Song Guochao, team leader from the federation, poured a cup of ginger tea for every member of the team. He said sometimes disabled people fall into self-loathing, but he hopes more people can see the bright side of their lives as there is still much to do.
鈥淓veryone gets a medal for completing the race,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter how long they took or how far they have come through, but the fact that they are racing with over 30,000 people and they are laughing.鈥
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
