Twin Cities Marathon allows e-handbikes for the first time

Yes, it took four years of continuous lobbying to get Twin Cities Marathon officials to allow five people to participate in the 10-mile and marathon course on handbikes, including electric ones. But an enthusiastic Quinn Brett, a Minnesota native and advocate for people with disabilities, raved.

“This is huge!” she said.

Marathons across the country have long had a wheelchair category, allowing elite athletes with expensive equipment to compete. And in the last few years, Brett said, about 30 have added a category that allows handbike users to race.

But this Sunday's Twin Cities Marathon is the first to allow battery-powered devices, including Brett's e-hand bike, allowing people who can't or don't want to compete to still take part in its races. The result is that a class that Brett took several times before she became disabled is now open for her to enjoy.

“The victory with TCM is that this is NOT the case with ANY other race in the country yet!!!! “Pretty cool door open to inclusion,” Brett wrote in an email.

Marathon officials described Thursday's move as a pilot to learn more about how electric devices interact with runners on a crowded race course. It will help them learn how to safely integrate a broader range of people with disabilities, officials said, leading to even greater inclusion. This year's events include 41 people with disabilities, a record, said Dean Orton, president of Twin Cities in Motion, which runs the events.

In addition to the handbike pilot, the marathon's Athletes with Disabilities Program includes duo teams, in which a rider and three pushers allow a participant unable to propel their chair to participate in the event; Guide Runners for the Visually Impaired, in which teams of two runners – one visually impaired and one visually impaired – run the course together; and the Professional Push-Rim Wheelchair Racing Division, in which invited individual athletes with disabilities compete for awards and prize money.

“Our bigger goal is to get people moving,” Orton said. “You’re always trying to break down barriers and create opportunities.”