Dad finds a way for everyone to enjoy the race

NORFOLK

Three-year-old Katie White had one observation for her father as they set out on an 8K race Saturday.

"Too slow!"

Trey White wove Katie's jogger stroller through a throng of hundreds in the RunWalk for the Kids event so he could break into a run that sent Katie's hair sweeping across her forehead.

In front and behind him were the rest of Team Hoyt Virginia Beach, a group of 16 runners pushing children and young adults - all with some type of disability - in jogger strollers.

"Coming through!" White yelled.

Most of the competitors in the strollers couldn't walk, but Saturday, they all could race, thanks to the muscled joggers pushing them in the run at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

There were children and young adults with cerebral palsy, some with autism, others with brain injuries and genetic disorders.

They were able to experience what the other runners in the race might take for granted:

Their hair flying back in the wind. The rush of air against their sun-lit faces. The crowds of people yelling them onward.

"Go Katie! Go Isaiah! Go Grace!"

The CHKD fund raiser, which drew more than 1,000 competitors Saturday, is in its third year, but it was the first time White and his team of runners participated.

It was another father who inspired White, a Virginia Beach dentist.

In the fall of 2006, White saw the original Team Hoyt compete in the Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.

Massachusetts father Richard Hoyt - then 66 - pushed his 44-year-old son, Rick, who has cerebral palsy, in the race. The world-renowned father-son team has competed in 963 endurance events - including marathons, triathlons, even Ironman competitions - during the past three decades.

The idea behind the team and the foundation that grew out of it:

Include everybody in everyday life.

By the next fall, 36-year-old White was at the starting blocks of the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon with Katie, who has a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome.

Mary Helen Hilton, who works at St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children, saw their photo in the paper and asked whether White would run in a 5K fund raiser for the Norfolk-based facility.

White agreed and organized a group of runners to take children from St. Mary's on the run, too. The event was rained out, but White didn't give up.

He and a group of athletes - dubbed The Weekend Wheelers - committed to taking St. Mary's children on regular runs. In April, six of them ran the children through the hallways of the home, since it was raining. In May, seven runners sped the children along the Boardwalk in Virginia Beach.

By Saturday, the effort had evolved into Team Hoyt Virginia Beach and included 16 runners pushing 16 children and young adults.

The riders ranged from 1 to 24 years of age. Eight came from St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children, and there also were some long time patients from CHKD and several children with autism on the team.

The restlessness and crying at the starting line gave way to shrieks of joy and smiles of contentment as they hit the open road. Eight-year-old Isaiah, who lives at St. Mary's, told his runner he wanted to win.

He ate M&Ms the first half of the race, then fell asleep. (Officials from St. Mary's do not release the last names of their residents.)

Paul Nobles, 53, of Chester, ran with his 1-year-old great-granddaughter, Bre' Aunna, who lives at St. Mary's. It was her second outdoor race, but the first with her great-grandfather at the helm.

Virginia Beach doctor Bobby Woodard was in the race, too, wheeling his 5-year-old son, Matt, who has a developmental delay. One mile into the race, they popped a wheel, but that didn't stop the Virginia Beach duo. They continued on two wheels, with White trading off strollers with Woodard to make sure they all crossed the finish line.

Two runners took turns running 18-year-old Grace Feazelle, who has cerebral palsy. She joked with them throughout the course that wound about five miles around CHKD.

"Are you going to pass out?" she asked Greg Battaglia.

"You'll know when I do," he said.

Most of the jogger strollers were gathered from friends and family, and two were specially designed to hold adults up to 200 pounds. The Hoyt Foundation donated one of those, and The Noblemen, a charity group in Virginia Beach, paid for the other.

The first members of Team Hoyt Virginia Beach crossed the finish line in 42 minutes, just 17 minutes behind 8K winner Ryan Carroll of Portsmouth.

The runners were dripping with sweat and breathing hard, but the competitors who rode shot gun looked cool, collected, and ready to go again.

"This was my first race," said Feazelle, who lives with her family in Virginia Beach. "Let me know when you have another one."

Her enthusiasm is similar to what Rick Hoyt, now 46, experienced after his first race in 1977. He typed out this message: "Dad, when I'm running, it feels like I'm not handicapped."

After Saturday's race, White passed out cold water, did high-fives with runners and wheelers, and put out a plea to the public for more athletes and strollers.

"It's an amazing feeling," he said, sprinkling his daughter with cool water. "They were smiling from ear to ear."

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com