Cape Town local and epic handcyclist, Andrew Stodel recently cleaned up the majority of the elite competitors in his handcycling field at the New York Marathon, finishing sixth out of 198 professional handcycling athletes.

He says: “Had such fun riding my bike from the hotel down 5th ave to Central Park and then back via Broadway… bet no one has ever been that stupid. Stopped outside a Sunglass Hut next to the Hard Rock on Broadway and took these pics with the staff….cool chicks.”

Andy and the cool chicks

Below is the rest of his email – an account of the race from his point of view. It’s a very cool read, especially for those of you who’ve made a stop at the Big Apple in recent years.

And without further ado…

So many have asked about the NY marathon that I thought it best to send a summary

Having lost one of my closest friends a week earlier it was always going to be emotional – he was instrumental in getting me to enter so we went to Carnegie deli and celebrated his life with a hot pastrami on rye sarmi and I rode with a black arm band for him.

The start is on Staten Island and the only way there is on the organised buses which run with military precision.

Our departure was at 4AM so we had a STUPID 2 AM wake up call – getting almost 400 handcyclist, wheelchairs and bikes there was crazy and I ended up on a bus with a group of Colombian pros. It was so cool meeting cyclists from all over the world.

The elite field was 198 strong and I had a real job convincing them that I belonged in that category having not done the race before. All but three in the field were pros and I guess a fat geriatric from south Africa didn’t quite look the part.

The hospitality tent at the start was well organized and it was quite a sobering sight to see how many of the participants were young military amputees – couldn’t help chuckling at one sicko’s comment that “this war sure is good for the sport of handcycling.”

The start was a tense and congested affair with lots of posing and “chest beating”. The Aussie contingent couldn’t help making disparaging comments about our rugby boys – I’ll use those comments, I thought!

By the time Mayor Bloomberg set us off we were all almost frozen stiff. I’ve never experienced cold like this and my water froze in my water bottle – FRIGGING FREEZING MAN!!!

The race starts at the base of the bridge that joins the island and Manhattan so there’s a two kilometer climb at the start – not fun when your muscles are cold, but I decided to give it everything at the start and then just try and hang on as long as possible…The hectic crosswind and temperature made it the most extreme start I’ve ever experienced, but about 20 of us managed to break away from the rest of the field.

Five miles into the race and there were about four recliners (the same bike I ride) and five kneelers (the bikes the amputees use) up front, and I felt a bit like a hare being chased by a pack of wolves, but the field seemed unable to catch us. The race weaves through the five boroughs of NY and even at speed it was interesting to note the different ethnic groups screaming from the pavements. First the Hispanic block, then the Hasidic Jews, etc.

Fifteen miles into the race and I had an escort cyclist leading me. It was quite a surreal experience and I was really pumped by all the support.

The rest of the race is a bit off a blur, I guess I was just trying to keep going and avoid punctures on the terribly corrugated streets…Just two miles to go and my escort waved me through and said ” You’re on your own now”…Passing Strawberry Fields in Central Park is a really beautiful place to end, the pain and the screaming crowd was deafening…I felt like a rock star for a day.

I finished sixth overall in a time of 1 hour 36 minutes, much better than I could ever have dreamed of, and ahead of some of the ‘big boys’.

Looking back at my Garmin I was in the red for most of the race and averaged 27km/hr on course.

What an experience…Time for some R&R and some Zzzzzzzz’s.

Great job, Andy. Here’s to one more rocking athlete out of South Africa representing on the international stage.