10/13/2026
Saturday’s Queen Bee Half Marathon was nothing short of amazing! 👑🐝
In an effort to continue expanding access to adaptive athletes in their races, PigWorks confirmed that we could pilot welcoming paracyclists into the race this year just eight short weeks ago. In true Bridge form, we accepted the offer, quickly developed a training plan, and invited handcyclists to take on this challenge. Led by Elaine Lynch, the twice-weekly workouts included cranking out many miles on the Little Miami Bike Trail as well as climbing Kugler Mill to get some bona fide hill work under our cycles. Occasionally sidelined by summer heat and showered with summer rain, all athletes worked through training challenges and rolled up to the start line ready to crush the course. And crush it they did!
Congrats to Lydia, Mikiahya, Nicole, Jilly, and Kim on all of your hard work and incredible accomplishments! As the first ladies to buzz through this race on handcycles, you're all trailblazers in this city. We hope you wear those crowns with pride - you earned them. (And a special shout-out to Emily, who trained with us and completed her second Air Force Marathon this fall!)
We have so many people to thank for pulling this program together and creating a truly meaningful experience for the adaptive athletes.
Elaine, thank you for your professionalism, passion, and genuine care for our athletes. PigWorks, your partnership is creating access for adaptive athletes on a big stage and showing this city what is possible when we make room and offer support. To the front runners in the half marathon - thank you for cheering handcyclists on the course as you all raced to the finish! - your enthusiasm for our work is so, so appreciated. To the Hand Cycle Assistance Team, thank you for your remarkable support through training and on race day. And to all other volunteers and anyone cheering from the sidewalk, we cannot thank you enough for showing up and being present for the dawning of this new day. We are grateful for ALL of you.
You can see some images of the day here: https://bit.ly/Queen-Bee-Para-Cycling-2026
One last thing to note - training for the Flying Pig Marathon begins in early 2027… WHO’S IN??
