A neurological disorder wasn’t going to keep Marc Van Rafelghem from the competitive sports he has loved all his life. Growing up in Belgium where he was born, Marc ran track as a preteen, played soccer in grade school and high school, and throughout his teens wanted to be a professional soccer player, despite his disability. Today, he’s still competing—but these days as a wheelchair athlete. And he spends lots of time on our trail.
Marc was born with hereditary spastic paraplegia, a central nervous system disorder that affects motor neurons, especially those of the lower limbs. Able to walk unaided as a child, he began walking with canes when he was 18 and started using a wheelchair at age 26 while in graduate school. At that time he played wheelchair basketball recreationally. But competition was in his blood, and he would have preferred playing on the Wright State University wheelchair basketball team, but grad students were not eligible. Finally, in 1983, he was competing again, in wheelchair road racing. “While I was not an elite wheelchair athlete, I was competitive for some time,” says Marc. “But that didn’t matter as much as the camaraderie with runners, disabled as well as non-disabled. Wheelchair road racing has been my passion ever since, and I will do it a long as I can.” He’s 66 now, and has been retired for two years.
Marc is pictured here on his TopEnd racing wheelchair, a hand-me-down from a quadriplegic wheelchair racer friend who retired from the sport. It’s been Marc’s racing chair for about 20 years, and has served him well, but he’s overdue for a new chair. “I am working with a world-class wheelchair racer, who started building his own racing wheelchairs a few years ago,” Marc says. “I hope to have my new chair by the end of this year.”
Racing wheelchairs like Marc’s run only on arm power delivered to a single set of push rims (he wears heavily padded gloves for protection). They are not hand-cycles, which are propelled by a hand pedaling motion and allow for gearing, which is not permitted in wheelchair racing. “I love wheelchair racing and will most likely not consider hand cycling until absolutely necessary—when I can no longer push my racing chair,” Marc explains. Despite some significant injuries, such as a torn rotator cuff and a ruptured cervical disc, “I am very much committed to racing. Time will tell.”
Marc says he rides two to three times a week on the trail in late spring to early fall, logging 8 to 13 miles each outing. He averages 7.5 to 8 mph, down from the 11-12 mph of his younger days of wheelchair running. When he’s not on the trail due to weather, he trains on a roller system in his basement. On non-race-training days he lifts weights and sometimes swims at his neighborhood pool during the summer.
Don Hahn, a volunteer and former board member of FLMSP, met Marc on one of the Wednesdays Don rides the trail with a group of cycling buddies. Don was interested to learn he shares more than a love of cycling with Marc—they both are retired from Procter & Gamble. Don also learned that his last name has an equivalent in Flemish, the language of Marc’s native Belgium. It’s spelled “Haan,” and pronounced the same way. Don’s interest in learning more of Marc’s story resulted in this article.
Marc’s interest in cycling extends beyond his own competitions. “My focus has very definitely changed from competitive racing to training for the associated health benefits,” he says. "The training keeps me active, healthy and going!” He’d like to see others enjoy these benefits, too. “I’d like younger kids with disabilities in the Cincinnati area to be able to give it a shot, and would love to help give them a start, if possible,” he says. “It is really sad to see that the cost of entry into the sport is so high, but I would love to see more interest and participation in wheelchair racing in Southwest Ohio.” And it’s about a lot more than the competition. “My focus has very definitely changed from competitive racing to racing/training for the associated health benefits. This keeps me active, healthy and going!”
Wheelchair running, as it is sometimes called, offers more than just physical benefits to those with disabilities. “This past July I spent three days in Georgia at a wheelchair racing athlete camp with 40+ international wheelchair racers of all ages,” Marc says, adding that he was the oldest and slowest. “I would not trade this experience with anything in my life! I loved getting to know all these people and training and racing with them. The camaraderie speaks volumes. We cannot and will not be held down!”
Say hi to Marc if you see him on the trail. And if you know someone who might benefit from wheelchair running, send them a link to this article. You just may get someone started on a life-changing sport.
Don Hahn and Marc Van Rafelghem contributed to this article.
August 2023
Cyclists typically compete in only one discipline. In recent years, several high-profile riders have emerged who compete at the highest level in multiple disciplines including road, cyclocross, and mountain biking. Among these riders are Tom Pidcock of Great Britain, Wout Van Aert of Belgium, and Mathieu van der Pohl of the Netherlands. In the 2023 UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), van der Pohl won the 271.1km (168.5mi) road race and was favored to win the mountain bike race. In the first kilometer of that race, van der Pohl crashed, completely unexpectedly, as he rounded what looked to be a routine turn. He was injured badly enough that he had to abandon the race.
