Submitted Photo
UTICA – This year, 2016, marked the 28th year of the Boilermakers' annual Utica National Kids’ Run. This popular event for newcomers to the sport of running, attracted the likes of one such local girl, nine year old, Amelia Hartwell.
Of the some 1,600 plus children who participated in this family-fun race on July 9, in Utica, it was Amelia, her mother Emily Bentivegna, and her younger sister Ava who came out on top at the end of the day. Accompanying them on their ¾ race was Gibson Physical Education Teacher, and assistant varsity Track and Field coach at Norwich Phil Curley.
“Imagine running ¾ of a mile and trusting someone to take you to the right spot. She has really come a long way since she was five years old. The running thing has only been this year, we have been experimenting and trying to find out what clicks with her, and the running really has clicked. She does some running on the treadmill at the Y, so she is capable there as well,” said Curley.
Amelia with the help of her mother and Mr. Curley – who both ran alongside her the whole way completed this run in Utica, and when asked if she'd like to stop her mother recounted Amelia explaining she 'just wanted to keep running.' Seven year old Ava, even posted a second place finish to top off their first of many successful Boilermaker runs.
“He (Mr. Curley) has worked with my daughter (Amelia) ever since she has gone to Gibson. He started running with her over the past couple of years, but this past year is when he wanted to do more with her as far as distance running. He asked me if she could do the Turkey Trot and I said 'yeah absolutely,' if she wants to do it, then thats great and I'm all for it,” said Emily. “The connection he has with her is incredible. The fact that he has gone out of his way to do this with her is just great. For a teacher to make an effort to get up at 6 a.m., to go run in the Boilermaker on a Saturday morning. Thats just how he is with her, he just wants to do anything and everything he possibly can for her. I am very grateful to him for putting that extra effort in and seeing her potential. She's capable of so much more than people would think.”
What truly makes Amelia's story compelling isn’t the mere fact that she is just nine years old and has now completed both the local Norwich YMCA Turkey Trot back in the Fall of 2015, and now the ¾ mile National Kids’ Run at the Boilermaker. It is the fact that Amelia has done this and much more over her nine years, while battling daily with obstacles surrounding her blindness.
