page_title: Team Hoyt
section_title: Team history
hierarchical_section_title: Team Hoyt / Team history
caption_attribution_description: English: Team Hoyt at half way point of 2008 Boston Marathon in Wellesley
context_page_description: Team Hoyt is father and son Dick Hoyt and Rick Hoyt from Holland, Massachusetts. The Hoyts have competed together in various athletic endeavors, including marathons and Ironman Triathlons. Rick has cerebral palsy. During competition, Dick pulls Rick in a special boat as they swim, carries him in a special seat in the front of a bicycle, and pushes him in a special wheelchair as they run. Team Hoyt are inductees of the Ironman Hall of Fame and are past recipients of ESPN's Jimmy V Award.
context_section_description: Team Hoyt began in 1977 when Rick asked his father if they could run in a race together to benefit a lacrosse player at his school who had become paralyzed. He wanted to prove that life went on no matter your disability. Dick Hoyt, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, was not a runner and was 36 years old. After their first race Rick said, "Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped." After their initial five mile run, Dick began running every day with a bag of cement in the wheelchair because Rick was at school and studying, unable to train with him. Dick was able to improve his fitness so much that even with pushing his son, he was able to obtain a personal record of a 5K run in 17 minutes.
  As of March 2016, the Hoyts had competed in 1,130 endurance events, including 72 marathons and six Ironman Triathlons. They had run the Boston Marathon 32 times. Also adding to their list of achievements, Dick and Rick biked and ran across the U.S. in 1992, completing a full 3,735 miles (6,011 km) in 45 days.
  They also competed in triathlons. For the swim portion of the triathlon, Dick uses a rope attached to his body to pull Rick sitting in a boat. For the cycle portion, Rick rides on the front of a specially designed tandem bike. For the run portion, Dick pushes Rick in his wheelchair.
  In the 2013 Boston Marathon, Team Hoyt had about a mile to go when two bombs exploded near the finish line; they were stopped by officials, along with thousands of other runners still running the race. They were not injured. A bystander with an SUV gave them a ride to the Sheraton hotel, and they were temporarily separated from Rick's wheelchair.
  On April 21, 2014, Dick and Rick Hoyt completed the 2014 Boston Marathon, having previously announced that it would be their last together. From 2015 through 2019, Rick Hoyt was pushed in the Boston Marathon by Bryan Lyons, a dentist from Billerica, Massachusetts; Lyons died in June 2020, aged 50.
caption: Team Hoyt in the 2008 Boston Marathon, near the halfway point
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