Howard County Athlete Sweeps Wheelchair Race

For the third year in a row, Clarksville resident Tatyana McFadden placed first in the women’s wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon.

Her time was 1:52:54, more than 17 minutes slower than last year, according to the Boston Globe, which attributed the discrepancy to course conditions. It was reportedly drizzling and windy.

“I just had to keep climbing as hard as I could” to ascend the hills, McFadden told the Globe. She had to pump her legs 15 mph up each hill to catch up to the Japanese athlete, Wakako Tsuchida, who was ahead of her for a stint.

McFadden is not one to back down from a challenge. As a child orphan in Russia, she walked on her hands to get around because of a condition called “spina bifida,” meaning she had a hole in her spine.

Once adopted into a family in Howard County, her family enrolled her in sports to help her build strength, which has translated into a career as a Paralympic athlete.

At Monday’s marathon, McFadden persevered and beat second-place Wakako Tsuchida of Japan by more than a minute in the women’s wheelchair race, according to the official Boston Marathon results.

Afterward, the 25-year-old McFadden gave her celebratory wreath to the family of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old killed in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.

• Howard County’s Tatyana McFadden Wins Again at Boston Marathon
• Tatyana McFadden Wins Second Paralympic Gold
• McFadden Wins Women’s London Marathon Wheelchair Race
• Clarksville Athlete Brings Home the Gold
• Howard County Native First in Boston Marathon Wheelchair Race

Screenshot of Tatyanna McFadden crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015, from Universal Sports Network/YouTube.