By Ashley Mastronardi Fox 5 News
Kevin Hannaford
Triathletes are preparing for Sunday morning’s Aquaphor New York City Triathlon.
Some participants have a story behind why they decided to compete. One such triathlete is a man who is racing to remember his brother-in-law who was killed on September 11th.
“It’s the first widely made carbon bike — it’s an absolutely beautiful bike.” Patrick McGinley loves his set of wheels. “It’s fantastic, I just get it tuned up every year and then see if I could be diligent enough to put loads of miles on it.”
This bike has special meaning.
“He was a fantastic guy.”
The bike once belonged to McGinley’s brother-in-law, Kevin Hannaford, who was killed on 9/11.
“My family gathered at my sister’s house and waited for the phone to ring … (shakes head) no.”
The bike was a gift from McGinley’s sister about a year after the attacks.
“I went over her house and saw the bike hanging there and she said there’s this bike here do you want it?”
McGinley knew he had to do something special with it. “So I looked around for different triathlons to do because I know it’s a road bike, so I found the Westpoint Triathlon — I trained for it and that’s the first one I did,” said McGinley.
Since then, the bike has carried McGinley through three triathlons, not including the Aquaphor New York City Triathlon happening on Sunday.
McGinley looks forward to one day passing the bike along to Kevin’s young sons.
“When they see their uncle doing things with their father’s bike I feel that’s very positive for them, shows them a positive way to use one’s energy,” said McGinley.
The triathlon is on July 14th and Patrick is honored to be competing with his brother-in-law’s bike and he looks forward to having his entire family, including his sister, at the finish line.
