Celebrating the win as we cross the line.

It’s the end of the beginning! In 297 days we will be at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympics - How cool is THAT??? Nick and I clinched the win in the Paralympic Trials by the 14th race on Saturday and needed to not race the last day. The Race Committee gave us an extra long toot of the horn as we crossed the finish line first, to clinch the win.

Yes, that means that Nick and I are now members of the US Paralympic Team representing the SKUD 18 class, we’re going to Beijing! And, in the Sonar class I am so relieved and happy to report that my former teammates are also going to the Games - Rick, Timmy and Bill. It went to the wire for them and I had the pleasure of watching them win it Sunday. Also on the Paralympic Team is John Ruf of Wisconsin in the 2.4 Metre class.

The 2008 US Paralympic Sailing Team
(L to R, top: Bill Donohue, Tim Angle, Charlie Leighton (US Sailing Director)
bottom: Maureen, John Ruf, Rick Doerr, Nick)

I am looking forward to getting my life back for the next 3 months, reconnecting with my kids, friends and family. All of the sailors who have been pursuing this dream have been on the road for an unusually intense amount of time as we all ramped up to this one ever-so-important event. I’d like to thank my co-workers at the Piers Park Sailing Center for their flexibility in my schedule over the past 2 months and my husband, Dan Tucker for keeping me going on this long journey. He has driven with me miles and miles with the boats in tow, watched the kids when away at trainings, set the boat up (it didn’t break!), coached me and didn’t let me quit when I got weary.

My Mom and Dad, Dan’s sisters, and the Marblehead Moms have been essential also too - driving my daughter, taking her on overnights, watching both kids for us for weeks, and for keeping the plants, kids and the cat alive while we’ve been on the road. Of course we also need to thank all of you who have provided the moral, emotional and financial support to help us reach this all-important milestone. While Nick and I are the ones in the boat, it certainly has taken a large team to reach this point!

I’d also like to thank our competitors in the US SKUD fleet. We would not have reached this level of excellence without all of you pushing us hard, every training camp and regatta! This quote from Theodore Roosevelt has helped us, when we came in third in the 2004 Trials, it is just as relevant now:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Aspiring Paralympians and Olympians are not the “cold and timid souls”. We have all dared greatly, to strive for a goal that few aspire to. Whatever the outcome, we all dared to strived for a dream that only one team could ultimately win. Nick and I now carry the hopes and dreams of all of our competitors. We are fortunate to know the “triumph of high achievement” but we still have a higher goal to strive for. We will not let you, or any of our team down.

We will return from Beijing with a Gold Medal, the ultimate goal of this journey!