Friday, March 5, 2010 WESTERN PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY’S FAVORITE HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER Vol. 11 No. 14 ONE DOLLAR

She’s headed for Paralympics as a volunteerBy SUDHA KAMATHObserver staff

A Manassas resident preparesto head northwest to make herdreams come true. KimberlyEvering has been selected as a vol-unteer at the alpine skiing venue atthe Paralympic Games March 12-21 in Vancouver, British Colum-bia.

Evering caught the Olympicbug in 1996, when she attended theSummer Games in Atlanta for hercommunications job. “I met manywonderful volunteers at the differ-ent venues who all seemed to behaving a lot of fun. It really madean impression on me,” she re-called.

Evering applied to volunteerat the Winter Games in Park City,Utah in 2002, and later to volun-teer for the Winter Games in Turin,Italy in 2006, but was not chosen.She didn’t give up.

Evering learned she had toapply years in advance, to secureher own housing and to pay herown travel and lodging expenses.But with the support of her hus-band Chris and her close friend,Melissa Derecola, she stayed oncourse. “Having to wait every fouryears was heartbreaking. I put intoaction everything I found out frommy past attempts,” Evering said.

Kimberly Evering, sporting the official colors of the Winter Games outside her snow-covered Manassas home, prepares for a dream to come true at the Paralympic Gamesin Vancouver, British Columbia. Sudha Kamath / the Bull Run Observer

She applied to volunteer at theWinter Games in Vancouver. Justbefore Christmas last year, shelearned she’d been accepted from70,000 applicants from around theworld.

When Evering was told thatvolunteering at the OlympicGames would require a nearlyfour-week break from work, sheopted to volunteer for a shorter,two-week time period at theParalympic Games.

“The Paralympic athletes dothe same runs that aren’t modifiedsimply because of disabilities,” sheasserted. “Blind skiers follow theruns by following a guide’s voice.The fact that they’re doing all thiswith a handicap is amazing to me,”she said. “I became so emotional,I was crying.”

The Buffalo, N.Y., native is nostranger to cold climates but con-cedes she’ll have to get used tofrigid temperatures again after liv-ing in Manassas for five years.“Going from working in a cubiclein Virginia to working outside theCoast Mountain range of BritishColumbia where the average win-ter temperature is between 11 to 23degrees Fahrenheit, I’m sure willbe a shock to my system,” she said.Evering will work eight-hour shiftswith only one day off as a specta-

tor. She bought a ticket to the open-ing ceremonies.

Evering, a web communica-tions manager, hopes to continue tospread the Paralympics’ messageof determination, even after thegames. “I want to stay involvedand champion the cause,” she said.

Determination has been a con-stant theme for Evering as well.She cites her greatest accomplish-ment as living her life to the full-est, even if that means grabbingopportunities outside her comfortzone.

One of those opportunitiesarose two years ago at OlympicPark in Park City, Utah. Everingcompleted a run on the officialbobsled course that was used dur-ing the 2002 Winter Games. “It’sthe only facility in the U.S. whereyou can go down the full Olympicbobsled track used by the athletes,”she described.

Evering knew risks were in-volved. “My head with my helmeton would feel like 50 pounds dueto the G forces and that EMTs[emergency medical technicians]would be at the finish line as a pre-caution,” she said. “The reality ofmy actually doing this activitykicked in. My heart was poundingwith anticipation.”

Evering said the only modifi-

cation made to the sled for un-trained riders was that the rearbrake had been moved to the front.Also, instead of running and jump-ing into the bobsled like Olympicathletes, Evering secured herself inthe bobsled, which then waspushed by two assistants. “Off wewent down the 8/10 of a milecourse around 16 swift curves in53.08 seconds at 78 miles perhour,” she declared.

Other adventures includeriding motorcycles, skiing, iceskating and traveling. Evering alsois an avid photographer and a

freelance writer. She started herown blog as part of her master’sdegree program at American Uni-versity a few years ago. She willcontinue to chronicle herParalympic quest atwww.kimberlysgrapevine.blogspot.com.

Will Evering aim for the Win-ter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi,Russia? Stay tuned...

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