Itzhik Oren
Photo: Roi Yanovsky
Disabled IDF veterans compete in Berlin Marathon
Eight runners and 13 handcyclists, former IDF soldiers and Border Police officers, formed a delegation to Germany to take part in the Berlin Marathon; 'It's really a dream come true. Next year, we'll improve our time.'
BERLIN — More than 40,000 runners took part last Sunday in the Berlin Marathon, and so did 21 disabled IDF veterans, who were warmly received by the crowds cheering in the German capital.
Eight of the 21 completed the full 42-kilometer course running, and the remaining 13 did so on handcycles.
One of the latter was 73-year-old Itzik Oren from Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar, a married father of four and grandfather of ten who lost both his legs after treading on a mine in the Yom Kippur War. The explosion also damaged his hearing and vision severely, leaving with only one functioning eye with eight percent vision, which is technically considered blind.
Israeli handcyclists (Photo: Roi Yanovsky)
When asked how he manages to complete a marathon on a handcycle with drastically reduced vision, Oren replied that he picks something to stick to: "In this race, I always followed somebody who more or less was at my speed." Since Oren led the cyclists across the finishing line, he switched to runners towards the end.
Oren's cycle was equipped with an Israeli flag. "Every time that people saw the flag, they applauded. One person even sang 'Od Avinu Chai' with an American accent."
Itzhik Oren (Photo: Roi Yanovsky)
Sixty-seven-year-old Yuval Ginat from Kibbutz Cabri also participated in the marathon. Both his legs were amputated after being wounded in the Sinai during the Six-Day War. "After the injury, I decided that I would continue as I was with what is supposedly defined as a limitation. It's a limitation, but you can live great with it." Ginat is an avid sportsman who has also participated in marathons in Tiberius, Tel Aviv and New York, having taken up the handcycle 15 years ago at his wife's suggestion.
The youngest of the delegation was 29-year-old Shimon Yifrach from Kiryat Shmona. He joined the group a day late, as we was receiving the Israel Police's Medal of Distinguished Service for his part in the operation to rescue soldiers who had accidentally wandered into the Qalandia refugee camp. Yifrach was wounded in that operation when he was shot in the leg.
Itzhik Oren (L) and Shimon Yifrach (Photo: Roi Yanovsky)
After his injury, the Border Policeman went through a long recovery period that introduced him to handcycling. "You start the biggest war of your life…It's like learning to walk again like a kid," said Yifrach.
One of the eight runners from the Israeli delegation was 53-year-old Shimon Navon from Jerusalem, who was critically injured during reserve service in the First Intifada when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at him in a Palestinian village. "I went up in flame, and I fought for my life," recounted Navon, whose mother, Miri, joined him in Berlin for this third marathon.
The delegation's runners
For Navon, the biggest difficulty in completing the run is regulating his body temperature, as the scars from his burns impede his body's ability to perspire. "That's why I didn't do the Tel Aviv Marathon, which took place in really severe weather. If the temperature is high, I slow down the pace, run a lot slower, throw lots more water on myself to cool down my body."
Shimon Navon
He explained that he convinced the Zahal (IDF) Disabled Veterans Organization to send runners to Berlin: "With all respect to the hand (cyclists), it's important, it's challenging—but there's nothing like the moment that severely disables persons run a 42-kilometer marathon on German soil."
ZDVO's CEO, Brig. Gen. (res.) Haim Ronen commented, "There's huge importance that this happened in Germany, also for the Jewish historical aspects. A group of IDF disabled veterans who run and cycle in Germany with all the implications."
At the end of the race, Yifrach took a picture alongside Oren and said, "It's really a dream come true. Next year, we'll improve our time."
This article's author was a guest in Berlin of the Friends of Disabled IDF Veterans.
