WCER staffer places among Top 10 women handcyclists in NYC marathon

Monday, November 24, 2008 -

Monica KamalRossa left Wisconsin in late October with her wheelchair and her bicycle to hit the streets in the New York City Marathon.

"Go, Mama! You need to go faster. You're entering Harlem!" someone shouted at her as she was taking an uphill curve in the northern stretch of Manhattan.

KamalRossa, a special education data consultant at UW–Madison’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), has become an advocate for people with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities that require use of a wheelchair.  Since injuring her spinal cord in a 2001 skiing accident, she has relied on a trio of wheelchairs to get around. This time, she sped around New York City in a handcycle –  a recumbent bicycle operated by a two-hand crank. She was the sixth female athlete to finish in the handcycle division.

KamalRossa faced many obstacles and barriers from training to traveling, "(but) when the race finally started, I couldn't believe I was there," she said. "I couldn't believe that I finished so close to my goal."

Even though she met her goal of finishing in three hours, KamalRossa struggled to make it past the proverbial wall – the hills of Central Park.

How did she get through it? "I talk to my bike. Yes I know it is crazy," she said. "'Come on you, monkey-bike . . . It's time to get going!' is one of the common sayings."

She counts, gets into a rhythm as she turns the cranks on her handbike and matches her breathing to that rhythm.

"I wanted to challenge my male teammates, so when I came in before they did, I was ecstatic!," she said. "I didn't think I would beat the guys. They have already promised to beat me, so the challenge is on!"

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