Team Hoyt: One thousand races and counting
| Friday, Apr 24 2009 04:52 PM
Last Updated Friday, Apr 24 2009 05:30 PM
What: Voices of Inspiration Dinner and Auction Featuring Dick Hoyt
When: 6 p.m. May 7
Where: The Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court
Cost to attend: $100
More information: 410-1010
Images:
Photo courtesy of Team Hoyt Dick Hoyt and son Rick in the Boston Marathon in 2002.
Dick Hoyt isn't one to gripe, but he clearly doesn't think much of his performance Monday at the Boston Marathon.
He finished in 5 hours, 30 minutes, 4 seconds. Slow, says Hoyt.
Never mind that he's 68. Or that the day was cold and windy. Or that he was pushing another man in a wheelchair.
Most mortals would be happy just to finish a marathon, but Dick and son Rick -- the man in the wheelchair -- are relentless competitors whose shared motto is YES I CAN. That motto has served the Hoyt family well since the day 47 years ago when Rick was born with the umbilical cord tangled around his neck. The resulting cerebral palsy left him almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak.
Not that the disability ever kept Rick from competing with his father, who says he would never have started competitive running were it not for his son.
"Rick is a person who never let his disability get in the way of what he likes to do; he's a fighter," Hoyt says. "He never gives up -- his story inspires people around the world."
Team Hoyt's story will inspire people in Bakersfield, too, when Dick Hoyt serves as keynote speaker at the 15th annual Voices of Inspiration on May 7 at the Doubletree in Bakersfield. The dinner-and-auction event is the flagship fundraiser of Hoffmann Hospice, Kern County's only locally founded, non-profit hospice agency.
Hoffmann founder Beth Hoffmann says this year's Voices promises to be the most inspirational to date.
"Dick's commitment to his son, and to his son's quality of life, mirrors Hoffmann's commitment to our patients and our community," she says. "We've never had a speaker that really exemplifies the heart of our organization like he does."
Dick and Rick have competed together since 1977, when Rick, then 15, asked his dad if they could run in a five-mile race to benefit a local college student who'd been paralyzed in a car accident. Dick, then 40 and a self-described couch potato, agreed. They ran the entire five miles, crossing the finish line second to last. Rick's grin was ear to ear. So was the grimace on his dad's face.
"After the race, I was the one who was disabled," Hoyt says. "I couldn't walk for two weeks."
After the race, using his specially engineered computer, Rick tapped out what the race meant to him.
"Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped," he said.
That was all Hoyt needed to hear. Father and son have raced together ever since, running, swimming and cycling their way through marathons, triathlons and Iron Man competitions. It's a rare weekend that the two aren't in a race somewhere.
Monday's Boston Marathon was the duo's 27th and their 1,000th athletic event. Their fastest time ever at Boston was a stunning 2 hours, 40 minutes, 17 seconds. It's inevitable then, that some wonder how much longer Dick and Rick will pound the pavement.
"We're getting older and slower," Hoyt says. "If Rick says he's had it or we physically can't do it, we'll stop, but my goal is to push Rick in the Boston when I'm 70."
Hoyt readily admits he feels the "aches and pains" of age and competition, but is still driven to run. But one thing he'll never do, he says, is run a race alone. "Not without Rick," he says. "Only with Rick."
-- Marylee Shrider is community liaison at Hoffman Hospice.
