Team Hoyt
Team Hoyt began in 1977 when Rick became inspired by an article on racing he saw in a magazine. Dick Hoyt was not a runner and was nearly 37 years old. After their first race Rick said, “Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.” After their initial five mile run, Dick began running every day with a bag of cement in the wheelchair because Rick was at school and studying, unable to train with him.” Dick was able to improve his fitness so much that even with pushing his son, he was able to obtain a personal record of a 5k in 17 minutes.
As of April 2013, the Hoyts had competed in 1,077 endurance events, including 70 marathons and six Ironman triathlons. They had run the Boston Marathon 30 times. Also adding to their list of achievements, Dick and Rick biked and ran across the U.S. in 1992, completing a full 3,735 miles in 45 days.
They also compete in triathlons. For the swim portion of the triathlon, Dick uses a rope attached to his body to pull Rick sitting in a boat. For the cycle portion, Rick rides on the front of a specially designed tandem bike. For the run portion, Dick pushes Rick in his wheelchair.
Rick turns 51 in 2013 and Dick 73. As they speak and travel more, they are racing less. At the beginning of their career, they participated in 50 races per year but now aim for 20-25 races per year. They still say they don't see an end in sight yet.
A bronze statue in honor of the Hoyts was dedicated on April 8, 2013, near the start of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
The Hoyts did not finish the 2013 Boston Marathon. They had about a mile to go when two bombs exploded near the finish line, and were stopped by officials along with thousands of other runners still running the race. They were not injured. A bystander with an SUV gave them a ride to the Sheraton hotel but they were temporarily separated from Rick's wheelchair.
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Famous quotes containing the words team and/or hoyt:
“I also heard the whooping of the ice in the pond, my great bed-fellow in that part of Concord, as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over, were troubled with flatulency and bad dreams; or I was waked by the cracking of the ground by the frost, as if some one had driven a team against my door, and in the morning would find a crack in the earth a quarter of a mile long and a third of an inch wide.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Happy is that mother whose ability to help her children continues on from babyhood and manhood into maturity. Blessed is the son who need not leave his mother at the threshold of the world’s activities, but may always and everywhere have her blessing and her help. Thrice blessed are the son and the mother between whom there exists an association not only physical and affectional, but spiritual and intellectual, and broad and wise as is the scope of each being.”
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