So three disabled athletes: A three-time New York marathon champion, an Australia paralympian, and a surf lifesaver, want to attend a running competition in Sydney Australia called City2Surf using hand cycles instead of hand race chairs.
“THREE disabled athletes have launched a discrimination claim against Fairfax Media after the company refused to permit their mobility aids to be used in Sydney’s annual fun run, the City2Surf”
“The trio, led by three-time New York Marathon champion Todd Philpott, claim their particular disabilities prevent them using sports wheelchairs, and instead wished to compete using hand-powered tricycles, known as hand cycles.”
“Fairfax, which has organised every race since 1971, has stood firm in its decision not to enrol the competitors, telling the Federal Court that creating an eighth competition category specifically for handcyclists would have caused “unjustifiable hardship” and would “undermine the integrity” of the race”
“Fairfax claims it offered to facilitate finding wheelchairs for the men, but the trio unreasonably insisted on bringing their own mobility aids.”
I’m on the fence on this, I mean it is a running competition. These guys are athletes. If you look up these guys up, they are pretty big athletic guys. So why the lawsuit? Because you want to use hand cycles?
Kurt Fearnley
Reading this statement surprised me: “If you look at a sports wheelchair, like the kind (double-amputee paralympian) Kurt Fearnley uses, it doesn’t suit people like me who have legs … but they’re debilitated,” he said. (David Galea).
We see quite a few disabled athletes who HAVE legs using this type of race chair and it “suits them just fine”. Debilitated? If you’re debilitated why do you choose to participate?
Again, I’m on the fence about this, I mean if you look these guys up, they seem pretty athletic to me. Suing for $10,000 because you can’t use your hand cycle… I don’t know maybe I’m not seeing something here, what do you think?
Read the full “theaustralian.com” story HERE
