Dr. George Ackerman
Dr. George Ackerman advocates for increased awareness of Parkinson's disease in memory of his late mother who passed from this terrible affliction.
More Than Our Story
Team Stewart Racing
Lizzie Stewart shares her journey in sports, from starting to race triathlons at age 10 to competing in the Ironman World Championships and forming Team Stewart Racing with her quadriplegic brother, Chris. She underscores the importance of inclusivity in sports and emphasizes that disability does not equal inability. She has set up a charity to make sports accessible for everyone and shows that with the right adaptations, attitude, and perseverance, anyone can overcome barriers and achieve their goals.
Highlights
I've been a swimmer since I had my vaccinations; my dad was chucking me in the water to get me used to being in the water, getting me used to swimming, and my mom was like, “Well, you enjoy swimming, you enjoy cycling, you enjoy running. Why not put them all together and give it a go?” And from that moment, I've been hooked.
I came back home after my race and rather cockily said to my parents, “Oh, I did a triathlon. I bet you can't do one.” Which meant they signed up for one, and one thing led to another, and they ended up doing an Ironman where we first saw a team like my brother and I.
I'm doing (Ironman Swansea 70.3) solo. We decided that the hills weren't very Chris-suitable, and it's also a nice opportunity for me to see what I'm capable of doing without Chris.
Why Lizzie favors the 70.3 half-Ironman distance:
I just love how you've got the time that you can really get into it. You've got the endurance side of things, but then you can really go into the hurt locker. You can really push yourself to the limit, and I just found with sprints and standards, by the time I got into kind of my rhythm, and kind of really got into the part that I can actually push this, it was the end of the section, and I was moving on to the next one. And the opposite problem with the fulls, I actually found that I started to get a little bit tedious with it, and I did a couple of 70.3s. I did my first one at 19 and absolutely fell in love with the distance.
Normally, I'll try and do 2 or 3 (70.3s) a year, and I try and space them out a little bit. Obviously, life gets quite busy, but I absolutely love it. I've traveled, I did the New Zealand Half Ironman World Championships in 2024, and I was actually five and a half months pregnant with my son. He's got a little Ironman trophy as well.
On silencing the doubt:
I know that the doubts are going to be there. Whenever you're on a big stage, like an Ironman race, like 70.3, there will always be that competition. And for me, if I didn't have that little voice in my head saying, you can do better, you can push harder, I wouldn't be doing it because I wouldn't be excited and nervous and have that little voice telling me I can do it, I can push harder. And actually, maybe I'm not doing something right, and maybe I do need to change things. But for me, the day that little voice goes, that's going to be the end of my triathlon.
When Chris was born, there was an accident which led to Chris being asphyxiated at birth, which led to multiple profound disabilities, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and a whole bunch of other issues. But that's never stopped him from loving it. He's always loved being in the water. He's loved sailing. He loves the wind in his face.
My parents started running with him in 2014/2015. They actually did the Brighton Marathon with him in 2016, and our dad actually held the world record with Chris for the fastest half marathon, pushing a wheelchair, and he loves it. And why wouldn't we put the effort in to make sure that he can join in something that the whole family loves, when he so clearly loves it as well? We’ll do anything possible to make it happen for him.
We're still quite new to this. So we've only done two half marathons, one half Ironman, and a standard-distance triathlon. We try and spread them out quite a lot because Chris and his disabilities; it takes him a while to recover, and if he gets poorly, he can deteriorate quite quickly. So we try not to cram too much in so that it still becomes enjoyable for him.
Back in 2014, when our dad and our mum saw Team Tvilling - a brother duo in Copenhagen doing the Ironman - our dad said to me, "Oh, why don't you do that with Chris one day?" Being 13 at the time, that idea was shot down pretty quickly. Then, a few years later, obviously, we found Team Hoyt, and we found the Pease brothers… I just saw how amazing they are, and I thought, well, if they can do it, why can't we? Why can't we do this? Why can't we get Chris to the start line and to the finish line of something that we all love and something that he enjoys?
How Team Stewart Races:
For the swim, Chris sits in a kayak… I then pull him along in the kayak for the swim. For the bike, his race chair’s front wheel comes off, and there's a boom… which means I can pull him along on the bike. And then for the run, we just detach my bike, put the front wheel back on, and off we go.
We normally get sent off about ten minutes before all the other athletes, because, obviously, with a big kayak, we don't want to get in people's way, and the last thing we want to do is another swimmer, either knock Chris into the water, or we injure somebody.
We are always allowed help getting Chris out of the water and getting him into his race chair.
I know Ironman have now banned mobile phones, but we've got it in writing that we're allowed to have the phone with us. We're allowed additional support in transition. I can't lift Chris by myself due to spinal rods, so we’re allowed two extra people to come in and help us move him about. Then for the run, it's just us. So when we're actually doing the event, it's just me and him, but within the transition to each discipline, we’re allowed the additional assistance.
We always try and get in contact with the race organizers before we go to a race, purely so that we can discuss with them Chris' needs, what we need to make sure that the race works well, what they need from us. Some organizers like to see our equipment, and some organizers have asked for proof that we can actually compete together safely... It's just about working together.
We've not had an emergency during racing or during training, but he is actually currently in hospital. He took a little bit of a funny turn the other day, and it can literally happen like a light switch. So one minute he can be absolutely fine, the next minute it's straight down to the hospital, and we're trying to sort all that stuff out.
With training and racing, if something does happen, we do have protocols in place. For instance, Chris has got what's known as a PEG in his stomach, which means that we can give him food and fluid directly into his stomach instead of him having to eat, which then minimizes the risk of him choking and then having an aspiration whilst we're racing or training together. It also means we're able to deliver medications whilst we're training and racing because, as you know, it can be quite a long day out, and he needs his medication.
Lizzie's additional physical demands:
I've done a lot more strength work this year than I normally do. My body is used to pulling myself around; it's not used to pulling double my body weight. So I've been working quite a lot with a strength trainer, just to make sure that all of my muscle groups are being well supported, and I'm getting that strength, and I'm increasing that durability.
Counterfeit Chris is the nickname we've given to a bag of slate, and this bag of slate weighs 15kg more than Chris does, and that was a deliberate choice so that when I do go to train with Chris, it's 15kg less, so it becomes a lot easier.
It's a special moment when we get to train together… I go down to Suffolk once a month, and I normally spend the weekend with him, and we can get some nice long bike rides or a nice long run in. But it's just special to share that moment with him and just see how much he enjoys it—just hearing him chat away in the background and shout(ing) at me when somebody's overtaking us because he doesn't like being overtaken.
The biggest issue we've got at the moment is actually transport, and that's purely because of how much stuff we have to take with us. So obviously, when you travel for an Ironman, normally you've got your bike box, then you've got a suitcase with all of your other stuff in it… For me and Chris to race, we've got his wheelchair, his kayak, my bike, and then his hoist, which we need for getting him in and out of bed, plus all of his luggage, plus all of his medications, plus all my stuff, plus a one-year-old and all the one-year-old stuff; and then also mum and dad and my partner's belongings as well.
We've set up our CIC (charity) so that we can give people grants so that they can go and purchase the equipment they need. This can be any form of adaptive equipment. So, like a prosthetic limb, if you need a running wheelchair, a hand cycle, anything like that, if you came to us, we would be able to give you the money towards it.
We also want to be able to give people the opportunity to give sport a go, because currently there is no opportunity to kind of rent a wheelchair before trying it, and it's a big investment, and not a lot of people have got six grand to throw at something if they just want to give it a go. So we want to eventually have a fleet of wheelchairs that somebody can contact us and say, “Hey, I really want to try running, but I need somebody to push me, but I can't afford 6,000 pounds to go and buy a wheelchair just for my local park run.”
We just want to make sport accessible, and the additional cost of it is not just the actual adaptive equipment; it's also travel. It's having to pay for you and a guide to go somewhere if you need somebody to go with you. That automatically doubles the cost of any event you do. Most races do give you a free guide, but you've still got to get there; it’s still hotels, it's still food. It's a lot of additional costs.
We just want to make sport as cheap and accessible for everyone and anyone.
On what her brother Chris has taught Lizzie:
He's just taught me to never give up, and he will fight every day. And he has taught me that no matter what, there is always a way to do what you want. It might have to be a bit creative; you might have to think outside the box, but there is always a way of getting there, and you just have to want it. You just have to find that way.
Team Stewart Racing
Team Stewart Racing – Adaptive Racing Champions
In the world of sports, the phrase ‘disability not inability’ resonates strongly, especially within the realm of adaptive sports. Athletes prove that their conditions do not define them, as demonstrated by Team Stewart Racing, who showcase incredible talent and determination. Whether participating in a triathlon or any other sport, these athletes inspire us all by showing that barriers can be overcome.
Partner with Us
If you are interested in partnering with Team Stewart Racing, a leader in adaptive sports that promotes the idea of ‘disability not inability,’ please reach out to us at teamstewartracing@gmail.com. Together, we can make a difference in the world of sport and triathlon.
Daniel
Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit.
Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.
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