In the competition about which team had the most entries during this year's Oslo Marathon, it was Team RP who ran away with the victory. Team RP consists of blind and partially sighted practitioners with the eye disease RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa), and has in the last 6 years made a strong impression in the event in a number of areas.
Many participants in the Oslo Marathon have probably noticed the Team RP athletes over the last 6 years. Each of these years, the team has replaced its everyday companions and instead invited a large number of cultural and sports personalities to pose as companions. This annual running tradition is done to jointly help to focus on Active against cancer and the important work they do for cancer patients and the cancer cause.
It is not only Team RP's charity initiative that makes the team create attention in the Oslo Marathon. It runs too fast too. In the last two years, Team RP has won 5 out of 6 medals in the Norwegian Championships in half marathon for the disabled, which is an inpatient part of the Oslo Marathon. In addition, they also had an athlete who ran the entire Oslo triple (full marathon, half marathon and "10 for Grete" the same day).
But do not think that the team is on the lazy side the rest of the year when it is not the Oslo Marathon. They have massive participation in a large number of other events, and Team RP has grown big and become an important and central player in disability sports in Norway. Positivity and real sports enjoyment are two things that characterize the Team RP environment, and which means that it is constantly growing.
One of the initiatives Team RP has initiated is weekly joint training for the disabled at Bislett Stadium. A collaboration with SK Vidar was established, and now the Team RP team gathers together with other disabled athletes every Wednesday at Bislett Stadium for organized joint training. Visually impaired, amputees, people with reduced mobility and wheelchair users participate in interval training, strength and balance training, as well as yoga. A large number of volunteers pose as companions and training buddies, and contribute to a fantastically positive and wonderful training environment that includes between 50 - 80 people every Wednesday. This unique collaboration between SK Vidar and Team RP has been so successful that it was awarded the Inclusion Award and a prize of NOK 100,000 during the Sports Gala in January 2015.
In connection with each newsletter until the upcoming Oslo Marathon, we will inspire our readers by following Team RP through all the exciting activities they do throughout the year to spread joy and motivate as many visually impaired people as possible to take part in physical activity.
