Susannah Scaroni Takes on the Chicago Marathon

She wanted to attend Illinois out of high school, but Bleakney did not have a scholarship available for an out-of-state student athlete. When he did two years later, Scaroni transferred from Carroll College in Montana in 2011. The next year she competed in the Paralympics in London.

Since 2017, she has balanced the life of a full-time professional racer with her graduate studies. She collects about $16,000 a year plus health insurance from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and some additional support from sponsors. Prize money from racing, which brings in roughly $50,000 a year, pays the bulk of the bills.

“After the accident, I told myself, ‘if there is a race, wherever it is, I want to do it,’” she said.

In January, she was finally able to get back in her racing chair. She had to rebuild the core strength needed to sustain the upright position that pushing in the chair requires. Last year’s crash made that more difficult because her spine is now pitched further forward. But she was determined to get back on a starting line as fast as possible, even if she had not regained her fitness, because so many races had been canceled during the first 20 months of the pandemic.

So far, so good. The 10-kilometer Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4 offered a $53,000 bonus for runners who broke the course record to share, in honor of the 53rd year of the race. Scaroni was the only one to set a course record.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/sports/susannah-scaroni-chicago-marathon.html