Friends, our own Kerry Kuck is the Road Runners Club of America’s Challenged Athlete of the Year for 2013! We all know Kerry from his presence in our races, and I’m sure you all find him as motivating as I do. Deb Cunningham nominated Kerry, and we found out earlier this fall that Kerry had won! He’s a deserving man – he’s overcome obstacles that we all would find tough to deal with.
Here’s what the RRCA article in the Fall 2013 issue of Club Running has to say:
Kuck is a member of the Rocky Mountain Road Runners in Denver, and runs in RMRR races as well as many community races. He’s always an uplifting presence and is well known in the Denver running community. Kuck runs daily with his guide dog, Crosby. Despite going blind from Type 1 diabetes, he says that the diabetes is harder to run with than the blindness because he must monitor his food intake when he runs long. Kerry runs with either a sighted guide using a tether system of with Crosby. Debra Cunningham, who nominated Kuck, first met him about four years ago at an RMRR event. He wanted to run in the club races with his guide dog. Kerry likes the club’s race handicap system by which slower runners start first and faster runners start later. Under this format, he’s won ribbons in individual events. He’s currently in 15th place in the RMRR Trophy Series. Kuck ran the 2012 Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon with help from his racing partner, David Hagburg, an Iraq war veteran.
Please congratulate Kerry when you next see him!