#TeamAngelWolf Dubai

#TeamAngelWolf in Hoyt Running Chairs!
We have to be the biggest fan of Hoyt Running Chairs, they have got us far in our mission with #TeamAngelWolf!

We are British expats, living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.; we have 2 children Rio (a.k.a our Angel, 16 years old) and Tia (a.k.a Little Wolf, 13 years old)

16 years ago our world changed forever, when Rio was born and we started the journey of discovering his disabilities.

It has taken over 5 years, over 6000 kilometres and over 200 races to get to the point of these videos that explains what we do:
https://youtu.be/mK_52zRKxz8
https://vimeo.com/309699391
Rio has a rare chromosome disorder (1q44 deletion denovo syndrome) which causes him many disabilities (including seizures, intellectual disabilities, global development delays, etc)…. he has been a blessing in our life, truly directing our destiny!
After going through many life, health, family and business traumas, as a family we chose to relook at our priorities (which was family), pick ourselves up and decided to make a positive change in the world to help Rio and the ‘community’; Rio, lead us to create #TeamAngelWolf!

#TeamAngelWolf is a Non Profit Foundation (registered with the Community Development Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates) working towards changing the world for people facing exclusion because of disabilities, by creating a more inclusive, healthier, and kinder global community.
Our mission is to spread awareness, inclusion and integration of people with disabilities in the community; inspire community to embrace their own health and fitness; encourage teamwork/family; and prove that “anything is possible”!
We create platforms for inclusion.
The mission is achieved through participation in sporting events (running/swimming/cycling/obstacle course races, tower stair climbs and triathlons) by inclusion, free inclusive community activities and inspirational talks within schools and the private sector.

Realising that Rio would never have the opportunity to be able to independently experience and participate in races, that Nick loved to do and could freely choose to do (e.g triathlon and running), we wanted to give Rio that same experience and opportunity of inclusion, like everyone else within the community can do!
This initiated Nick and Rio starting to participate in triathlon races; where Nick would swim pulling Rio in a kayak, Nick cycle on an adapted bike where Rio has a special seat on the front and Nick run pushing Rio in a disability running chair. In fact their first ever trial race was a 70.3 distance triathlon race (swim 1.9km, cycle 90km, run 21km) that took them 6.5 hours. Rio LOVED it!

This lead to more races and other activities, like marathon running races, obstacle races e.g Spartan (where a team of 8 carry Rio on a stretcher to get around the course and Rio strapped to Nick’s back to get over the obstacles to the finish line) and tower stair climbs (where Rio is strapped to Nick’s back to ascend a building towers stairs), ultra distant races, etc.

To do inclusive racing, it is a family team effort, as Nick and Rio cannot complete their races without the assistance and support from mum and Tia!
Then over time, mum and Tia also started physically competing in the races with Rio too. Then community started joining them (people with and without disabilities) in races, all wearing #TeamAngelWolf clothing, representing the mission and a #TeamAngelWolf Pack was organically created and continues to grow globally.
This lead to free community activities being created for active inclusion (e.g ‘Beach Blast’ program – inclusive fun at the beach/sea for children from main stream schools and disabilities centres using #TeamAngelWolf’s 5 floating wheelchairs; and ‘TogetherWeCan’ program – using #TeamAngelWolf’s 5 disability running chairs (Hoyt Running Chairs), where people join a run/jog/walk session pushing the chairs for People With Disabilities, for inclusive community fitness.
Then from there Nick started doing inspiration talks at schools and corporates about the #TeamAngelWolf story and mission.

Rio in the 5 years of inclusive racing as part of #TeamAngelWolf has completed over 6000kms by being included in swimming/cycling/running/tower climbs/obstacle/etc races …. he has now covered a distance further than Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Belfast, Northern Ireland .. not bad for a 16 year old boy with disabilities!

To achieve this, Rio has participated in races most weekends of race season, sometimes 2 or 3 races per weekend. Despite his disabilities, Rio has found his passion in life, where he is at his most happiest … “inclusion in races” … within a community that has totally embraced him as an equal!

Some of these races have included:
17 Half Ironman Triathlons (1,900m Swim, 90k Bike, 21k Run)
10 Olympic Triathlons (1,500m Swim, 40k Bike, 10k Run)
22 Sprint Triathlons (750m Swim, 20k Bike, 5k Run)
12 Duathlons (3k Run, 20k Bike, 3k Run)
3 Aquathlons (600m Swim, 3k Run)
11 Open Water Swim Events (1,600m, 1500m, 800m & 300m Swims)
21 Cycle Events (368km, 145k, 129k, 94k, 92k, 75k, 52k, 50k, 48k & 30k Bike)
80 Running Events* (50k 42k, 22k, 21,15k, 12k, 10k, 7k & 5k Runs)
9 Obstacle Races (20k Run, 5k Run with Obstacles)
6 Stair Climbs (52 Floors, 1,334 Stairs & 26 Floors, 730 Stairs)
1 Ski Dubai Hike Run Challenge (11k Hike & Run, Ascent 630m)
#TeamAngelWolf have been invited and travelled internationally to participate in many middle distant 70.3 triathlon races with Rio; including Ironman Turkey 70.3 and 11TriBelgrade (middle distance) in Serbia.

Participating in triathlons with inclusion seems more popular now, which is wonderful to see; but we often get asked how do we get around an obstacle course challenge race or up a tower stair climb race with Rio (especially now he is older, taller and heavier than when we first started five years ago!). This is how …

This is how we complete a Tower Climb race: https://youtu.be/bZGfwKmmSLA

This is how we complete an obstacle challenge race: https://youtu.be/Pq5iezlDPP0

One of the many ultra races we completed was Al Marmoom UltraMarathon; a 50km Desert Race in pure sand dunes, where a team Pack of 8 worked together to get Rio to the finish line (in an adapted Hoyt Running Chair), taking us 13 hours: https://vimeo.com/307655591

Also our daughter, Tia (a.k.a Little Wolf) often races with her older brother, Rio (a.k.a our Angel) too in triathlons and running races (even 10kms!). When she was 11 years old, together they achieved an Official World Record by completing together with inclusion in a Sprint distance triathlon; where she swam 750m pulling Rio in a kayak, she cycled 20kms pulling Rio in a chair (Hoyt Running Chair), she ran 5km pushing Rio in a running disability chair (Hoyt Running Chair): https://vimeo.com/299585243

Our big achievement from last season was in association with the World Games Special Olympics, where we, as #TeamAngelWolf, completed our own epic, ultra #TriWithRio Challenge, where Rio and Nick completed 7 half Ironman triathlons (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 20 km run, 1 km inclusive walk) everyday for 7 consecutive days in the 7 Emirates of the United Arab Emirates:
#TriWithRio DAY 1 Special Olympics Video: FUJAIRAH: https://vimeo.com/317810861
#TriWithRio DAY 2 Special Olympics Video: RAS AL KHAIMAH: https://vimeo.com/318062734
#TriWithRio DAY 3 Special Olympics Video: UMM AL QUWAIN: https://vimeo.com/319387370
#TriWithRio DAY 4 Special Olympics Video: AJMAN: https://vimeo.com/3193882
#TriWithRio DAY 5 Special Olympics Video: SHARJAH: https://vimeo.com/319435388
#TriWithRio DAY 6 Special Olympics Video: ABU DHABI: https://vimeo.com/319436002
#TriWithRio DAY 7 Special Olympics Video: DUBAI: https://vimeo.com/319438642
#TeamAngelWolf were also Ambassadors for the Special Olympics World Games. World Games Special Olympics that was held in Abu Dhabi on March 2018 for people with Intellectual Disabilities; where over 7,500 athletes from over 190 visiting countries participated in 24 different sports. It was an incredible event, meeting so many athletes that utterly inspired us and gave us hope! It was such an honour to be part of this; a lifetime memory for the whole family!

Our activities and races have become more than just about Rio … it has became a community affair, as a platform
for inclusion! As a #TeamAngelWolf Pack we have completed many running races including other children with disabilities and other athletes; for example Dubai Marathon, where 5 runners pushed 5 children with disabilities (in the #TeamAngelWolf disability running chairs – Hoyt Running Chairs) for the whole 42kms, staying together as a pack: https://youtu.be/Hi66ONM5X-c

Then to continue this platform of inclusion as #TeamAngelWolf we have created many free, weekly, inclusive community activities such as ‘BeachBlast’ and ‘TogetherWeCan’.
#BeachBlast program: – inclusive fun at the beach/sea for children from main stream schools and disabilities centres using #TeamAngelWolf’s 5 floating wheelchairs: https://youtu.be/KX8AI21dIXA
#TogetherWeCan program: – using #TeamAngelWolf’s 5 disability running chairs (Hoyt Running Chairs), where people join a weekly run/jog/walk session pushing the chairs for People With Disabilities, for inclusive community fitness; we have such a variety of community joining us of all ages and abilities, children on scooters, parents running pushing babies in prams, older children with cerebral palsy pushing younger children with learning disabilities in the running chairs, people walking their dogs; such a happy, positive, diverse feel to the session: https://youtu.be/3VyUdWwUWV

Recently, we celebrated Rio’s 200th race! To celebrate this occasion we chose to participate in Dubai Run (the first 10km run up Sheikh Zayed Highway amongst Dubai’s iconic towers) where there were over 77,000 participants; it was incredible. We were grateful that we were allowed to start at the front of the line, and where we had the honour to be greeted by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. We also honoured to have the opportunity to run alongside His Highness for the 10kms and he even ran pushing Rio in his disability running chair (Hoyt Running Chair) for part of the race: https://youtu.be/_1QSk8CRxeo

Our other highlight of the last few weeks is our attempt and completion of 2 Guinness World Records; swimming in open water pulling Rio in a kayak for 5km and 10kms. We did the attempt on 2nd November, it was a windy day and the water was very choppy (other races were cancelled that day due to the weather!); we had over 50 people from the community join us for parts of the swim (we swam in 1 & 2km loops). Many people were sea sick it was that rough … but we did it! 5kms in 2hrs 42 mins, 10kms in 6hrs 6mins! Had it been kinder, calmer conditions we would have finished in a much faster time; but I guess it makes for a more dramatic story! Rio was our hero to sit so happily for 6 hours in a kayak in rough water – he smiled and sang for the whole 6 hours; he is our rock star! We received the certificates on 14th November, for the Guinness World Record Day: https://youtu.be/mAXymfsD5zY

To complete such challenges we need the best equipment possible. This is exactly why we chose Hoyt Running Chairs as our chosen chairs to run with! We have 5 so far, that we managed to purchase through corporate sponsorship. They have been incredible chairs to work with; beautifully made, of great quality, easy and smooth to use, they have magically endured being used in endless kilometres of races/events and constantly transported around to different weekly venues, amazing customer service and best of all associated with our hero’s – Team Hoyt!
To be able further embrace our community with our mission, our goal is to get more chairs sponsored to continue our #TeamAngelWolf #TogetherWeCan program with a further reach, especially more in schools.
The long term plan is to have #TeamAngelWolf Pack teams and inclusive community activities based around the world!

We are incredibly grateful to have Rio in our lives, he teaches us daily! He truly lives just in the moment of here and now. He LOVES racing and being ‘included’ within his racing community … we are blessed to have discovered his passion in life … we have no choice but to continue now, as he daily demands, “Race?”!!!
It is heartening to see how community have embraced Rio and want to be part of #TeamAngelWolf, participating in active inclusion. Witnessing our #TeamAngelWolf Pack organically grow of people of all ages and abilities, it has shown true #inclusion!

Thank you Hoyt Running Chairs for making the perfect chairs that have made our mission possible!
#Together we are all creating a more inclusive, healthier, kinder global community!

To follow our story, please do follow our social media pages:
www.facebook.com/TeamAngelWolf
www.instagram.com/teamangelwolf
www.twitter.com/TeamAngelWolf

Brother and Sister, Rio and Tia, Angel and Little Wolf