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\nYou could call it a \u201cBand of Brothers.\u201d Roughly 40 veterans came together as part of the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Military Veterans to compete in November\u2019s New York City Marathon.<\/p>\n
\nYou could call it a \u201cBand of Brothers.\u201d Roughly 40 veterans came together as part of the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Military Veterans to compete in November\u2019s New York City Marathon.<\/p>\n
At the center of this group was Georgia Southern alumnus Greg Sapp, class of 2012, who completed the 26.2-mile course in the handcycle division. Sapp is a combat-injured veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.<\/p>\n
Sapp first became involved with the Achilles Freedom Team in 2010, through his connection with the Christopher Reeves Foundation. In 2010, Sapp competed in his first marathon\u2014the Marine Corps Marathon in the Washington, D.C. area\u2014and at that time made a personal commitment to complete at least one marathon a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like competing in marathons because I find it very inspiring. I get to ride with a lot of veterans who were wounded in combat, a lot of amputees,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I am racing with a lot of people from different branches of service. We all come together for one cause.\u201d<\/p>\n And that cause is to raise money for wounded veterans. The Achilles Freedom Team was founded in 2004 by Achilles International to specifically aid veterans. Achilles International is a nonprofit group that empowers people with disabilities to participate in athletics. The group has chapters across the United States and in 60 countries worldwide. Achilles International founder Dick Traum, who lost one of his legs at the age of 24, when it was smashed between two cars, went on to become the first amputee to complete a marathon when he crossed the finish line in New York in 1976.<\/p>\n Sapp and his wife, Cassandra, who is also a combat-injured veteran, are raising money by competing in Achilles Team events. They plan to start a Georgia chapter of Achilles Freedom. \u201cWe do this to support the wounded veteran\u2019s organization. I do my own fundraisers and I have raised more than $24,000 so far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The New York City Marathon was exciting for Sapp even though the marathon itself presented a few challenges. \u201cIt had a lot of hills and I was not prepared for that. Statesboro does not have a lot of hills so I wasn\u2019t able to train for that kind of course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sapp said his goal for New York was to finish in less than two hours, but that because of the hills, his finish time was two hours and 25 minutes.<\/p>\n He said, however, that the marathon became more of a personal event for him because his brother, Brian, came to New York, ran in the race and raised $3,000 for the Achilles team. \u201cIt was special because he ran in support of all of us and it was his first marathon,\u201d said Sapp. \u201cHe had wanted to run New York for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Sapp admitted there is something special about the New York City Marathon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crowd was awesome\u2026there were so many people there,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was pretty cool to have all the people out there and the support. New York and Boston are the two biggest marathons as far as supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n Sapp said the biggest difference for the wheelchair racers is that they take off before everyone else. \u201cThe wheelchair racers don\u2019t have all the runners around; we don\u2019t have the congestion that the runners have, but we do compete on the same route as the runners.\u201d<\/p>\n Sapp graduated from Georgia Southern in June 2012 with a degree in psychology and is now working on a master\u2019s degree in clinical psychology as part of an online program at Walden University. He expects to receive his degree in December and then move into their Ph.D. program.<\/p>\n \u201cI really liked Georgia Southern. It is a good school,\u201d he said. \u201cThe school does an excellent job working with students with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Sapp said he had help from the University\u2019s Student Disability Resource Center, which worked with him to allow for changes and accommodations regarding testing. \u201cThis helped make it a much less stressful situation for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"AchillesStrong-1\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/AchillesStrong-1-315x243.jpg\")
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Sapp\u2019s latest support has come from the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, which donated $10,000 and paid for the team\u2019s trip to the Boston Marathon this spring. \u201cThey gave us the donation at the end of last year and told me they also wanted to support us at the event, including catering food for us,\u201d he said. Sapp also noted he receives support from larger companies such as Merck Pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n