The seventh Gravel Ride & Race will take place in Bern on October 19, 2024. It should be a big bike festival for everyone. Among the more than 1,000 expected participants, there are four handbike paraathletes for the first time – including the Paralympic gold medalist Manuela Schär.
Organizer Christian Rocha emphasizes: “We are an event for everyone, all ages, all types of sporting ambitions, and now also for paraplegics. We want to make it possible for as many people as possible to experience a great day on the bike together.”
In a pilot project, valuable experience is being collected in order to make the event more inclusive in the future. The project was initiated by the request of wheelchair athlete Manuela Schär.
«I never thought about taking on a pioneering role. I keep seeing activities that I would really like to try. Sometimes it’s impossible. But I often think about how it could work with a little improvisation. If you then find open ears and meet people who are willing to think “outside the box”, it can become a cool story. Of course, one always hopes that examples like the Gravel Ride & Race Bern will get the ball rolling and that there will be more inclusive mass sports events.”
In order to meet the needs of handbikers, the route was slightly adapted and the wheelchair accessibility of the event area was improved. In addition, the rules that actually prohibit the use of e-bikes have been lifted for handbikes.
The experiences from this year serve as a test to examine the possibility of having our own handbike category in 2025. The introduction of gender-separated scoring would then also be planned. There are currently no plans for age-separated scoring in the new category.
According to Rocha, the participation of paraathletes in the Gravel Ride & Race Bern 2024 represents a significant step towards inclusion, which makes him and everyone involved particularly happy.
“It’s actually a great pleasure to be able to be there. There are now many adapted sports equipment and sports that people with disabilities can practice, even competitively. But if you look closely, this often has little to do with inclusion. The experience of being at an event with many other people, in this case over 1,000, or even taking part in it, is usually withheld from us, especially in popular sports. Sport brings people together and is even more fun when you can do it together,” emphasizes Manuela Schär in conclusion.
