Last year I did the Bolder Boulder 10K in my everyday wheelchair. When I registered, I was asked to sign an agreement (see Am I the Pusher of the “Conveyance”?).
This year the agreement has been revised. The revision is an improvement:
WHEELCHAIR PUSHER AGREEMENT
This Agreement is made between BolderBOULDER, Inc., the producer of the DICK’S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER road race held on Memorial Day every year in Boulder, Colorado, and the undersigned,
WHEREAS, the undersigned wishes to participate in the DICK’S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER road race by pushing another participant in a wheelchair.
WHEREAS the DICK’S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER rules ordinarily prohibit such means of conveyance because of the danger they present to the person in the wheelchair and the other, approximately fifty thousand, people crowding the streets during the road race, and
WHEREAS the BolderBOULDER, Inc. nevertheless wishes to permit the undersigned to participate in the race because of its goal of benefiting people who could not otherwise complete the course and allowing their participation to the maximum extent which is consistent with the safety of all participants in the event,
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and the agreement set forth herein, it is agreed as follows:
1. The undersigned will be permitted to participate in the DICK’S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER to be held on Memorial Day on May 31, 2010 and to use a “conveyance” to push another person. BolderBOULDER, Inc. will select the jog/walk, walk/jog or walking wave in which the participant will start.
2. In order to assure the safety of thers, the undersigned agrees to walk, not run, and to exercise extreme care in the handling of hte Conveyance for the safety of the person in the wheelchair and other participants. The undersigned represents that he/she is familiar with the Conveyance and is able to operate it safely.
3. The undersigned acknowledges that, in the event he/she violates the provisions of this agreement or any other rules of the DICK’S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER, he/she and the Conveyance will be removed from the race course.
Yes, there are still problems with this agreement: the non-person status of the wheelchair user and the implication that the two participants (pusher and wheelchair user) are not competent to do so are just the most obvious. But this revision is much clearer about what situation is being regulated. And it’s still amusing that they’re going to punish the team for misbehaving by removing the pusher and the wheelchair, but not the wheelchair user.
I guess Dick and Rick Hoyt wouldn’t be allowed to participate – no running for wheelchair pushers. And I don’t know if staff are still trying to get independent wheelchair users to sign this – hopefully not.
This year I’ll be in the pro wheelchair wave. To answer my question from last year – no, the pro wheelchair racers don’t sign this.
