Like many runners in this year’s New York City Marathon, Nicole Ver Kuilen has a goal. He wants to beat his best time and finish the race in less than four hours. It’s not inconceivable: in a marathon this year in Eugene, Oregon, he finished just 1 minute and 59 seconds over the finish line. And in New York, he will have the help of an old friend, Paralympian Dani Aravich, who will be his support runner: an accommodation for athletes with visual or lower extremity disabilities. Unlike the vast majority of runners, Ver Kuilen will run the marathon with a prosthesis. And for the first time in New York City Marathon history, athletes with disabilities in any of the five World Para Athletics categories (low vision and blindness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, coordination difficulties, lower extremity disabilities and upper extremity disabilities) will compete for spots on the podium. While no cash prizes will be offered in the Para categories, New York Road Runners will award first, second and third place in each category for men and women. After other major marathons such as Boston and Chicago, the Road Runners decided to introduce these Para Athletic categories. “We have continued to evolve our offering over the years, and this pilot represents another important step forward in that evolution,” Erica Edwards-O’Neal, chief diversity officer at New York Road Runners, said in an email. “We want to go beyond providing access to participation and create more meaningful opportunities for athletes with disabilities to compete against others with similar disabilities, be recognized for their achievements, and see themselves represented in one of the most iconic races in the world.” Wheelchair racers have had competitive divisions since 2000, with prize money added to the category the following year. Paraathletes crossed the Verrazzano Bridge during the New York Marathon last year. Credit… Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMrs. Aravich, a three-time summer and winter Paralympian, said she welcomed the inclusion of Para athletics categories in this year’s marathon. “I think the race organizers or sponsors maybe didn’t see the need to invest in it because they didn’t see many people at the starting line,” he said. But, he added, a big part of the reason was because athletes with disabilities didn’t feel welcome. “A lot of times I show up at races just competing against myself,” said Ms. Ver Kuilen, who regularly competes in trail races and is the 2019 USA Paratriathlon champion. She will run her seventh marathon despite a painful skin condition that has prevented her from using the prosthesis. But the opportunity to compete against her peers and do it alongside her friend was too good to pass up, she said. Aravich will be carrying different prosthetics for Ms. Ver Kuilen to swap out as the race changes elevations and generally act as a buffer against the crowds. As Para athletes prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games, the inclusion of categories in major marathons can be seen as part of the push to expand access. Both Ms. Ver Kuilen and Ms. Aravich, campaign leader for the disability rights nonprofit So Every BODY Can Move, work as advocates for athletes with disabilities, and recently appeared together in a short documentary highlighting how many insurance companies do not provide coverage for sports prosthetics. Ms. Aravich advises on making sporting events more inclusive, advising organizers on simple measures such as drop-down menus on registration forms for athletes to indicate their disabilities and accessible bathrooms. Edwards-O’Neal said New York Road Runners organizers hoped to make Para athlete podiums the norm at the various races they oversaw, increasing participation and educating runners about the offerings available. “This pilot is an important step towards an even more accessible and inclusive future for our sport,” he said.
