BY KEVIN ALDRIDGE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[hilker]](/editions/1998/11/15/hilker_180x124.jpg)
Carl Hilker on the driveway of his Mason home.
(Gary Landers photo)
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MASON - Carl Hilker finished ahead of only 56 people in the New York City Marathon last week.
To many of the marathon's 32,000 participants, that would appear to be a poor finish. But for the 64-year-old Mason man it was a milestone - considering he completed the 26.2 miles on crutches.
"The happy part for me is just finishing the race and feeling good about what you've done," said Mr. Hilker, who posted a time of 8 hours, 19 minutes and 35 seconds. "And I feel good about doing it, regardless of the time or what place I finished in."
It was a triumph of mind over body for Mr. Hilker, who has a degenerative form of arthritis in his left ankle. He has competed in the race eight times.
"I sat out in 1995 (because of my ankle) and I didn't like it," Mr. Hilker said. "So I came back in 1996 and worked the marathon as a radio operator and I didn't like that too much either. I love the atmosphere of the New York Marathon, but I wanted to be out there running."
Unfortunately, his unstable ankle made running impossible. Hobbling 26-plus miles to the finish line was even less appealing. That's when he decided to try something different.
"I knew that if I tried to run, my ankle just wouldn't hold up," he said. "So I started to think of ways that I could take some of the stress off of my ankle. That's when I came up with the idea of crutching the entire race."
Combining various running and cross-country skiing techniques, Mr. Hilker developed an unorthodox running style. It allowed him to use the crutches almost like a third leg.
"It was simply amazing," he said. "I started out using the crutches in training a few weeks before the marathon and found that I could crutch a mile a lot faster than I could run one."
The crutching technique, which he likes to call "the three-step," works mostly the upper body, while alleviating much of the stress on the lower body during the running process.
Mr. Hilker begins by swinging his crutches out in front of his body, then letting his slender 6-foot-1-inch frame glide between the crutches.
His right leg hits the ground first to absorb the impact of his 180 pounds, followed by his left leg, which is gingerly placed on the ground for balance.
"It's what I call a racing crutch stride," he said.
He's already looking forward to next year, but he doesn't expect the end result to change much.
"I'll probably finish toward the bottom forever, unless they get some really slow runners in there next year," he said with a smile. "In fact, a majority of people I beat were old women, which
is not something you brag about with your buddies at the pub down the street."
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![[hilker]](/editions/1998/11/15/hilker_600x414.jpg)