Roundup: Clara Brown Finds Her Groove In New England Snow

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by Paul D. Bowker

Clara Brown competes at the 2022 U.S. Paralympics Cycling National Road Championships. (Photo: Casey Gibson)

Every other week we scour the web for the latest going on in the world of U.S. Para-cycling. Here’s what you missed!

 

Snow Day Is Ski Day

Clara Brown, a 2020 Paralympian who won gold in the time trial at the road world championships this year, traded wheels for skis as a big December snow hit New England.

 

Brown skied often while growing up in Falmouth, Maine. Now it’s more of a way for Brown to switch up from her usual cycling training routine.

 

“Storms like these don’t come around often on the east coast, so my bike legs got a break while my powder legs came out to play,” she said. “This weekend was all time at @sugarloafmountain.”



Morelli Helps The Kids

Four-time Paralympic medalist Shawn Morelli spent some time over the weekend helping kids get access to their own bikes. The Mark J. Reynolds Memorial Bike Fund, named after the late amateur cyclist Mark Reynolds, has held annual bike giveaways since 2005 around Missouri.

 

With the help of the fund, many kids have walked away with their first bikes.

 

“Had a great time at the Mark Reynolds’s Fund Bike Give Away with the gang from Santa Fe Trials,” Morelli posted on Instagram. “It was an honor to be asked to assist in giving bikes to some awesome kids.”



Honoring Rainbows

Samantha Bosco, a two-time Paralympic medalist who won a pair of road world titles this year, wears her global rainbow jerseys proudly. And they carry multiple meanings for her.

 

“I’ve said it before: the two rainbow jerseys I won in August are my rainbows after the storm,” Bosco posted on Instagram. “But throughout the last year and a half I’ve learned rainbows come in many forms. All of which should be honored and celebrated.”

 



Watching Those Elves

The home of two-time Paralympian Jamie Whitmore and family is filled with elves.

 

Miles the elf is joined this year by Striker, Cadence and Finn, and they’ve all been busy.

 

“They have already flown kites in the house, been zip lining, brought hot cocoa for the kids, brought a cool Japanese Pine for our living tree and made lunches for the kids,” Whitmore posted on Instagram. “Although I’m not sure hard pickles and maple syrup or cans of beans are the best things to eat.”



Volunteers Needed

The word is already going out for the UCI road world cup event that will be held in May 2023 in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

Volunteers are needed to work the event, which will be the first Para-cycling road world cup event held in the U.S.



Together Again

Olympic silver medalist Sara Hammer-Kroening and Jennie Reed were reunited this year when they coached U.S. riders at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Paris.

 

“We’re rooming together again,” Hammer-Kroening said of her teammate in the women’s team pursuit at the Olympic Games London 2012. “It’s just like old times.”

 

Hammer-Kroening, who is now the associate high-performance director for U.S. Paralympics Cycling, lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Reed lives in Seattle. Along with 1984 Olympian Rory O’Reilly, they coached the U.S. Para-cycling team to 12 medals in Paris. They could wind up coaching together in Paris again in 2024 for the Paralympic Games.

 

“(Hammer-Kroening) knows I’m passionate about these athletes in helping them,” Reed told USParaCycling.org.

 

Read more about Hammer-Kroening and Reed here.

Paul D. Bowker #

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USParaCycling.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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