Alex Zanardi is an inspiration.
The former open-wheel driver, who lost his legs in a vicious crash in 2001, won the handcycle division at the New York City Marathon on Sunday with a time of 1:13.58.
From Yahoo! Eurosport:
Since retiring from international racing at the end of 2009, Zanardi has worked hard on hand cycling - and has competed in many international events as well as setting his sights on representing Italy in the 2012 Paralympics.
As well as his victory in New York, he has previously won the Venice Marathon in 2009 and the Rome City Marathon last year.
Zanardi won two CART open-wheel championships while driving for Chip Ganassi and while driving in the American Memorial CART race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany. Exiting the pits, Zanardi was hit by Alex Tagliani and the front nose of his car was ripped off.As well as his victory in New York, he has previously won the Venice Marathon in 2009 and the Rome City Marathon last year.
The always positive Zanardi wanted to continue his racing career, so he got custom prosthetics and drove touring and sports cars until he retired. After retiring from driving, he continued his competitive racing career in handcycling, a sport where riders pedal bikes with their arms.