Wounded soldiers ready to handcycle the Chicago Marathon
BY TINA SFONDELES Staff reporter tsfondeles@suntimes.com October 8, 2011 1:48PM
Retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sgt. David Neumer adjusts the wheel on his handcycle during a tune-up gathering for members of the Achilles Freedom Team at the Courtyard Marriott, 33 E. Hubbard, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, in Chicago. 13 injured veterans from the team will compete in the Chicago Marathon Sunday. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times
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Updated: November 16, 2011 11:29AM
Despite their injuries, Army veterans David Neumer and Dan Casara will be ready to roll at the starting line of the Chicago Marathon in Grant Park on Sunday.
Neumer and Casara are among 15 wounded soldiers who will brave the 26.2-mile course on handcycles, starting nine minutes before the other racers.
Neumer, 49, already has a marathon under his belt.
“I started handcycling in January of this year. I did the Boston Marathon in 1:47,” said Neumer, a retired master sergeant from Tennessee. “I’d like to be better than that.”
Neumer’s right leg was shattered when an 82mm mortar landed next to him at the end of his third tour in Afghanistan in 2009.
The Chicago native began handcycling to replace running as part of occupational therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
He often trains with his 20-year-old son, who’ll be here Sunday to cheer him on.
For Casara, a retired sergeant, Sunday’s race marks the beginning of the handcycling season.
It will be his third Chicago Marathon. Casara completed the Boston Marathon this year and will be heading to marathons in Detroit and New York to cap off 2011.
Six years ago in Baghdad, Casara was in an M113 armored personal carrier when it rolled over an improvised explosive device and flipped over . Two soldiers were killed. The explosion and crash fractured his right leg, shattered his left leg and dislocated his right hip.
After 24 surgeries, Casara has moved on to helping inspire others to get moving.
“I do this for everybody else. I do this so if somebody sees my story or hears what I have to say and asks me how I do it, I can try to inspire and motivate someone to get off their lazy butts,” said Casara, 37, who lives in the West Loop.
“Maybe they’ll say, ‘This guy has gone through all of this, through all of these diversities to get where he is right now,” he said. “I just try to challenge people to do what I’m doing, for themselves.”
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