MH3 division before starting with Team Invacare athlete, Joel Jeannot - 4^th athlete from the left in the 1^st row – who won the race with an Invacare^® Top End^®Force X

Invacare and the European Handbike Circuit (EHC)

Invacare was delighted to participate in the 2013 Rosenau Race as the title partner of the European Handbike Circuit. The organisation of the race was excellent and Invacare would like to thank all the participants as well as all the volunteers who worked hard. We are very proud of the Team Invacare athletes’ results.

In spite of the rain and low temperatures (around 2°C only), over 170 courageous athletes from 22 nations participated in the opening race of the 2013 EHC.

An Invacare French Team delegation was present at Rosenau from morning till evening and an Invacare booth was set up displaying all the Invacare^® Top End^® sport wheelchairs and handbikes. The Invacare^® Top End^® product manager and his sales colleague answered a lot of questions about our products. We noticed that many athletes competed in Invacare^® Top End^® handcycles like the new Invacare^® Top End^® Force RX.

Invacare^® Top End^® booth

Chris Peterson, the Top End^® director, joined the event as an athlete in the MH0 division but he also advised many riders. He was the Invacare^® Top End^® representative who gave the trophies to the winners during the award ceremony.

In the afternoon Invacare participated in the EHC meeting with the EHC committee and had a warm welcome by all the members. The President of the European Handcycling Federation, Roberto Rancilio, signed the partnership contract during the meeting.

Signature of the EHC and Invacare partnership contract – From left: Chris Peterson, Top End director; Dutch member of the EHC committee; Roberto Rancilio, EHF/EHC President; German member of the EHC committee; Radovan Sabata, Czech member of the EHC committee and EHF/EHC Vice President

A tough race with amazing results:

The MH3 division kicked off this 98^th race of the EHC. On the starting shot fired by Roberto Rancilio, 48 athletes rushed from the starting line at 11:00. In a fantastic final sprint, the French Team Invacare athlete, Joël Jeannot won the race (1:09:13) signing his second consecutive victory in Rosenau. He was very happy with his performance especially in light of the poor weather conditions.

Chris Peterson from the USA, Top End^® director, came second of the MH0 category offering the yellow jersey to the young German athlete Joël Weingut. The audience was held in suspense until the end when they arrived within 1 second of each other (1:21:32 vs 1:21:33).

Chris Peterson and Joël Jeannot, Team Invacare,
shaking hands at the award ceremony

In the afternoon, it was the MH2 division’s go to compete. After 4 laps the leading group was already reduced to 6 riders out of 63 participants. The Belgian Jean-François Deberg crossed the final line first. Edward Maalouf, Team Invacare athlete from Lebanon, got the 4^th position arriving only 2 seconds after the winner (1:10:39). The first four handbikers made the audience hold its breath during the entire race! Heinz Frei, Team Invacare Swiss athlete and 2012 Paralympic medalist came in 9^th.

The afternoon was also brightened by the women’s races and the kids’ race.

Svetlana Moshkovich, Team Invacare rider from Russia, got the second place and arrived a mere 1 second after the winner of the race, the Swiss Sandra Graf, London 2012 Paralympian. Svetlana was really happy to finish the race in such a good time as she ended the race with a flat tire!

Svetlana Moshkovich, Team Invacare, holding her trophy

Winners of Rosenau 2013 races

See all the results here