Current Newsletter - Achilles International

Spotlight on Philly Achilles!Melissa Wilcox, president of Achilles –Philadelphia, offers the followingrecap on her chapter’s activities:The Philadelphia Chapterlaunched on Sept.15, 2012 with three athletesand 15 volunteers.It has nearly doubledin membershipand established acore group of dedicatedathletes andguides who haveachieved amazingaccomplishments.In October City Sportsintroduced the “AchillesInspire 4-Miler” as anevent within their annualPhiladelphia Marathon trainingrun. A few guides and an athleteparticipated in the PhiladelphiaMarathon, where bright Philly Achilles shirtshelped promote the organization. In Novembertwo of our visually-impaired athletes, Bruce Linskyand Kinzey Lynch, were invited to fly to Walt DisneyWorld to run the Disney Half Marathon in January.Neither Bruce nor Kinzey had run a half before, butAchilles put them on a training plan and helped preparethem for the big day!The Disney Marathon weekendwas a blast. Kinzey and Bruceboth finished strong with outstandingtimes. Another of our PhillyAchilles volunteers, Greg Cully,guided Greater Phoenix Chapterathlete Brooke Voss and helpedher achieve a personal best. PhillyAchilles had a considerable showing,with 12 of us there in Floridarunning, guiding and cheering.We’d like to give a special shoutoutto Achilles staff member RobinStringer, who jumped in at the lastminute to help guide in both the half andthe full – way to go Robin for unexpectedlyrunning 39.3 miles intwo days!We’ve also beenstrengthening our partnershipswithin the community.FishtownBeer Runners andPhiladelphia Runnerhave generatedpublicity for us withtheir constituencies.Pat McCool was appointedto representAchilles on the newlyestablished Veteran’s AdvisoryBoard. The boardcontains people from variousbackgrounds and affiliationsall with a common goal of makingparticipation in recreational activitiesmore accessible and fun for veterans ofthe armed forces. Philly Achilles athlete JuliaChapman also sits on the board, representing thePennsylvania Center for Adapted Sports.We’re partnering with Cigna in March to participate inthe Second Annual Friends of Wilmington Parks5K, and Students Run PhillyStyle to host a group of athletesand volunteers in their Gener8tionRun 8K in April. We have a team of20 participating in the Broad StreetRun in May, which is the UnitedStates’ largest 10-miler. Several ofour athletes are using this opportunityas a challenge to take it to thenext level! We’re looking forward tocontinued growth as the year progressesand word spreads aboutall the fun we are having workingtogether to achieve our goals.Go Philly Achilles!Top: Melissa, Kinzey and Robin celebrate after the Disney Half: Bottom: Greg Cully and Brooke Voss on their way to a PB for Brooke.Achilles Heel 11