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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Injured Iraq war vets to take lap around Belle Isle's Grand Prix track

Injured Iraq war vets to take lap around Belle Isle's Grand Prix track
June 2, 2012
By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Nick Koulchar is a former Army sergeant who lost his legs in 2008 in Iraq. Since then, he has become a hand cycle marathoner with the Achilles Freedom Team and can go 26 miles in about two hours. / Larry Sillen/Special to the Free Press


Nick Koulchar won't be driving a race car when he does his lap around the track just prior to Sunday's Detroit Chevrolet Belle Isle Grand Prix. But fans are likely to cheer him all the same.

Koulchar of Macomb Township will pedal a hand cycle around the track just before the pace car leads the racers around, as part of the Achilles International Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans.

Koulchar is a former Army sergeant who lost both legs above the knee in 2008 when a car bomb exploded while he was on a routine patrol in Iraq. Since then, he has become a marathoner with the Freedom team and participated in last fall's Free Press/Talmer Bank Marathon. He can go 26 miles on his hand cycle in about two hours.

His goal is to help raise awareness about veterans such as himself, who came home with life-changing injuries.
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