From spina bifida as a child to a full body cast as a teenager to a broken thigh bone last summer, Jean Driscoll’s 29 years have been a relentless series of challenges.
“It has been a long life,” Driscoll said.
In the long run, though, this wheelchair superstar from the University of Illinois has always found a way to overcome those challenges and get from start to finish of a marathon faster than any other woman in the race.
Driscoll did that again Monday, winning the Boston Marathon for the seventh straight time. That equaled the total victory record established by men’s open champion Clarence DeMar from 1911 to 1930.
“There were so many things in my mind,” Driscoll said. “I feel God has blessed me so much. To be able to tie Clarence DeMar in the 100th running of Boston, to be an American and give the U.S. a victory in one division, I’m very humbled.”
Driscoll, of Champaign, had been ready to give up marathoning until she broke her left leg in an inner-tube accident July 29. She was in a leg immobilizer 10 weeks and unable to return to her competition chair until the day before Thanksgiving.
While others may have railed at such constant misfortune, Driscoll said she found strength in the Bible, especially the verses of Romans 12:12, which counsel being joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. As she has done with the rest of her physical reverses, Driscoll managed to find something positive.
“I was a little burned out until then,” Driscoll said. “After I was forced out of the sport, it got me hungry again.”
That was evident in the way Driscoll chewed up an early one-minute deficit once she hit the course’s first serious hill at 11 miles. She loves to wheel uphill because of a formidable strength-to-size ratio–at 112 pounds, she can bench-press 200–and biceps so impressive they awed President Clinton.
“He shook his head and said, `You’ve got the best-looking arms in America,’ ” Driscoll recalled.
They pushed Driscoll across the 26.2 miles in 1 hour 52 minutes 54 seconds, slowest of her winning times in Boston because of a headwind but good enough to beat Louise Sauvage of Australia by nearly 2 minutes. The wind also took a considerable toll on the men’s wheelchair race, won by Switzerland’s Heinz Frei in the slowest time (1:30:14) since 1989.
Sad ending: A 61-year-old Swedish man collapsed of an apparent heart attack after finishing. Humphrey Siesage of Stockholm was pronounced dead at 5:06 p.m. at Massachusetts General Hospital. An autopsy is planned.
