Shirley Reilly (born May 29, 1985) is an American wheelchair racer who competes in track races and the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

distance in the T53/T54 categories.Shirley Reilly
Paralympians. Retrieved on May 13, 2012. She has represented the United States at the

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebr ...

in 2004, 2008 and 2012. She was the winner of the 2012

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by eight cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ins ...

race.

Early life

Reilly was born in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...

. She was paralyzed from the waist down at birth as she was delivered six weeks premature. Her early life was marked by frequent operations, including surgery around 1997 when she had eight spinal discs and two ribs removed.DeMarban, Alex (April 26, 2012)
Alaska Native headed to London Olympics for wheelchair racing
''Alaska Dispatch''. Retrieved on May 13, 2012.

Career

She moved to California and graduated from a school in Los Gatos in 2003. Reilly took part in competitive sports at high school and focused on track athletics. She competed in the 2002

IWAS World Games The World Abilitysport Games (known as the IWAS World Games before 2023) are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS), the Games are a successor to the origina ...

and achieved her aim of participating in the

at the 2004 Athens Games.Shirley Reilly
Team USA. Retrieved on May 13, 2012. Shirley Reilly 2012 Boston Marathon winner

Reilly began to move towards road events thereafter, particularly the marathon. She was runner-up in the wheelchair section of the

Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon (formerly known as the City of Los Angeles Marathon) is an annual running event typically held each spring in Los Angeles, California, since 1986. The marathon was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Ga ...

in 2005 and returned to following year to win the race. She became a regular performer at the

, coming fourth in 2005, improving to third in 2006, then taking fifth in 2007. She came fourth in the wheelchair race at the Peachtree 10K in 2008. In her second Paralympic appearance, she competed in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

and the

(finishing seventh in the latter event). The following year she was runner-up at the

Gasparilla Distance Classic The Gasparilla Distance Classic is a road race which is held in late February or early March on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa, Florida. Over 30,000 competitors participate each year. It is named after the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which takes plac ...

, and third at both the 2009 Boston Marathon and

Grandma's Marathon Grandma's Marathon (sport), Marathon (Grandma's) is an annual Road running, road race held each June in Duluth, Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States. The course runs point-to-point from the city of Two Harbors, Minnesota, Two Harbor ...

. She debuted in the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

in November and took seventh place. She came in fourth at the 2010 Boston Marathon with a time of 1:57:23 hours and set a personal best of 1:41:01 hours at the 2011 race, finishing as runner-up behind Wakako Tsuchida. Reilly represented her country at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships. She defeated Tsuchida at the 2012 Boston Marathon, beating her at the line by a margin of one second to win the Boston Marathon title and set a best of 1:37:36 hours. Later that month she took part in the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

for the first time and came in fourth after Canada's Diane Roy.2012 London Marathon
London Marathon. Retrieved on May 13, 2012.

Personal life

Reilly is of

Iñupiat The Inupiat (singular: Iñupiaq), also known as Alaskan Inuit, are a group of Alaska Natives whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States borde ...

heritage.

References

External links

Interview
before London Marathon in 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, Shirley 1985 births Alaska Native women American female wheelchair racers Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics American Inuit women Inupiat people Living people Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games Native American sportswomen Olympic wheelchair racers for the United States Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic silver medalists for the United States Paralympic wheelchair racers People from North Slope Borough, Alaska People with paraplegia Sportspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Track and field athletes from Alaska Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States University of Arizona alumni 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Inuit people 21st-century Inuit women 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Alaska Native people Parapan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Parapan American Games silver medalists for the United States