Every year, the running festival gets many speedy disabled athletes rolling again
At 8 a.m., they are the very first to start the race on Marathon Sunday in Linz, and for good reason. With their handbikes, many handicapped athletes make good speed and reach over 40 km/h on their fast companions. And this is also the only city marathon in Austria that offers the speedy cranks this unusual stage.
"It's a top-organized event, the start on a highway bridge is really unique, and it's inclusion in action," says Walter Ablinger, a Paralympics winner on a handbike and x-time participant in Linz. This year, like many of his fellow athletes, the star athlete from RSC heindl OÖ will once again be using the power of his hands to set the pace on the 21.1 kilometers.
Just like the no less motivated Florian Brungraber, who was recently voted Europe's Para-Triathlete of the Year due to his many successes. "The Linz Marathon was my first handbike race in 2014, which I completed," says the man from Lasberg, who, like Ablinger, will already be in full qualifying mode this year for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Another regular in Linz is Elisabeth Egger from the Innviertel, who took part in the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo.
The course in Linz is identical to the half marathon course for runners except for the last kilometer. The finish line is located in the Wiener Straße/Unionkreuzung area due to the road conditions on the Landstraße. This year, the Ascendor Handbike Half Marathon will be judged in Para and Tetra classes.
Already for the fourth time Ascendor is involved as main sponsor and name giver of the handbike event. The company was founded in 2006 and has since developed into one of the leading suppliers of retrofittable lift systems. Production takes place 100 percent in the Rohrbach district. Currently, the company employs a total of 90 people.
The Austrian quality company was able to implement over 1000 projects in 2022 and achieve a new record turnover of more than 13 million euros. The company has become an expert in new construction and retrofitting of lift systems.
Source: nachrichten.at
Photo: Klaus Mitterhauser
