Hard to
believe, but there are only a couple of days left this year! It has been a big year for Matt on his
journey to Rio. In March, he competed in
a collegiate meet in order qualifying for the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Paralympics
Track and Field National Championships.
Although we had a setback when the University of Maryland would not
allow him to race in their open meet due to liability concerns, he was still
able to get a qualifying time in the 1500 meters at another local meet before
Nationals. The race director added the
event just for him. He won silver and
gold in his events in Minneapolis, but unfortunately, he was not invited to
represent USA at the PanAmerican Games or Worlds this year. Only one long distance visually impaired
athlete was invited to the PanAmerican Games and no long distance visually
impaired athletes were invited to Worlds.
He was the overall winner of three road races this year. He also set a new personal record for the
5000 at Nationals, beating his last personal record set in college. Not too bad for a guy in his
mid-thirties! He’s been dedicating a lot
of time to running and we even bought a treadmill to ensure that he can get in
all of his miles even when weather and daylight do not permit. He needs to shave more time off his 5000
time, but it doesn’t seem too far out of reach.
Here is his plan for 2016:
Gallaudet Invitational, March 2016 - Washington, D.C.
Desert Challenge Games, May 11-15, 2015 - Mesa, AZ
U.S. Paralympics Track and Field National Championships, June 30 – July 2, 2016 - Charlotte, NC
Desert Challenge Games, May 11-15, 2015 - Mesa, AZ
U.S. Paralympics Track and Field National Championships, June 30 – July 2, 2016 - Charlotte, NC
And with
any luck…
2016
Paralympic Games, September 7 – 18, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Rio Games are expected to be the largest Paralympic Games to date; approximately 4,500 athletes with physical impairments from more than 165 countries will compete. Fingers crossed Matt will be one of them!
I am sure there will be many more blog posts in 2016 as we near the final push for Rio and he'll probably add one or two road races to the list to help get in some competition. I hope you'll join us on this adventure! Talk to you next year!
The Rio Games are expected to be the largest Paralympic Games to date; approximately 4,500 athletes with physical impairments from more than 165 countries will compete. Fingers crossed Matt will be one of them!
I am sure there will be many more blog posts in 2016 as we near the final push for Rio and he'll probably add one or two road races to the list to help get in some competition. I hope you'll join us on this adventure! Talk to you next year!
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