Lucy Shannon Takes the Gold in Wheelchair Racing Nationals

In 2021, Lucy raced in Rockaway’s Santa Shuffle.
By Katie McFadden

Sometimes limits are just the things we tell ourselves we can’t do. Lucy Shannon was born with cerebral palsy, leaving her wheelchair bound for life, but she found a way to wheel past her disability. This July, Disability Pride Month, 13-year-old Lucy is proving nothing can stop her, as she just swept the wheelchair racing competition at the Move United Hartford Nationals in Birmingham, AL, with gold medals in every event.
Margaret “Lucy” Shannon, a former resident of Arverne, was born prematurely, with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that permanently affects a person’s movement and muscle coordination. The condition left her unable to use her legs, but she’s never let it stop her. In 2019, she was watching the wheelchair division of the TCS New York City Marathon, when one of the athletes waived at her. She turned to her dad and said, “I’m going to do that one day.”
And so she did. It was the first time that little Lucy realized that she could be an athlete. Her family began to do research and learned of the Rising New York Road Runners (NYRR) Youth Wheelchair Training Program, a free program for youth ages 6-21 with physical disabilities in New York City. In February 2020, she gave racing a try, using a special adaptive wheelchair with three wheels, controlled by her gloved hands, to move the rims of the wheels. “I tried it, and I liked it. It was so cool,” Shannon said.
In no time, Lucy started to excel at her newfound sport. She started practicing every day and on weekends with NYRR. When living in Rockaway, she even participated in some of Rockaway Track Club’s racing events, including the 5K Turkey Trot and the Santa Shuffle 5K in 2021 This May, she had competed in NYRR’s Boardwalk Kids Run at the RBC Brooklyn Half. But at a regional meet in New Jersey on Memorial Day, Shannon learned that she qualified for the Move United Hartford Nationals for the third time. “I felt so proud. I didn’t think I would qualify since I had to move up in an age group,” she said. Shannon is one of five NYRR athletes to qualify for the Nationals event, a program record.

On Sunday, July 14 and Monday, July 15, Shannon participated in the Move United Hartford Nationals in the Under 17 age group. According to their website, “Move United Junior Nationals presented by THE HARTFORD is the largest, long-standing annual multi-sport event in the United States for youth with a physical, visual, and/or intellectual impairment who are classifiable under the International Paralympic Committee’s classification system.” For the event, Shannon and her mom, dad, brother and sister, made a trip to Birmingham on Thursday, July 11. “It was hot, I was sweating a lot,” Shannon said.
Yet despite the heat and competing in several events, Shannon excelled. She competed in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and the 1500-meter races. Not only did Shannon set personal records in each event… she took gold in every one. “I’m so proud because I put all of my hard work into this and it paid off,” Shannon said.
These latest medals were just a handful of the roughly 40 others she’s earned since she started racing four years ago. “Honestly I have so many medals from so many different races, I don’t even know where to put them all,” she said.
Her mom, Kelsey Helgesen, an occupational therapist turned head coach of the NYRR Wheelchair Training Program as of 2023, could not be prouder of her daughter. “I’m very proud,” Helgesen said. “She worked really hard at this over the past year. I think sometimes it’s hard to put in all that work when we don’t get to participate in many competitions, but she got to work hard and show it off at this event and she did really well. I felt really proud watching her.”
Shannon says she’s looking forward to again qualifying for the Move United Hartford Nationals, which will be held in Michigan next year. As far as other goals go, she’s hoping to also qualify for IWAS, a worldwide competition for para-athletes. “She’s very close to meeting the qualifying time for that,” Helgesen said. And looking toward the future, Shannon says she hopes to one day see herself competing at the TCS New York City Marathon, and maybe The Paralympic Games. Shannon recently drew some inspiration from Daniel Romanchuk, an American paralympic athlete, who has won the wheelchair divisions of the Boston and New York Marathons. “I did a training at Camp Cedar Town in Georgia and did a 5K with Daniel Romanchuk. He was very nice,” Shannon said.
But closer to home, Shannon hopes others in wheelchairs join her NYRR team. “It’s a really great program, even though our team is small. I want other people who are my age to join so we can have more people!” she said. And, though now living in Manhattan, she says she still hopes to participate in future Rockaway Track Club events.
To other youth facing a disability, Shannon says, “Just try something and see if you like it and find a sport you like. Or you can even come up with your own sport!”
For more information about Rising New York Road Runners Youth Wheelchair Training Program, check out: www.nyrr.org/youth/youth-initiatives/rising-new-york-road-runners-wheelchair-program
If interested in joining, email Arianna Moliere at: amoliere@nyrr.org