Annual Dirty Dozen Race Continues After Founder's Injury

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Saturday marked the 34th year for the Dirty Dozen race, and this year, people were there to support the founder of the annual event.

Danny Chew, who started the bike-riding event in 1983, was seriously injured in an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down back in September, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Chew said he wanted the race to continue even though he could not participate in it himself this year.

"I'm feeling very, very proud that Danny has so many people that love him. It's amazing, amazing that he has so many supporters here," Danny's sister, Carol Chew Perezluha, said. "It's been a tragic year for our family, and it's helping us get through, to see so many people giving. Giving up their time and their money -- buying shirts and jerseys and giving on the website."

Chew was able to check in on the event this year via Skype.

"This is his baby," Perezluha said. "He said he'll never marry or have kids because he's too eccentric. And the Dirty Dozen is his child."

The Dirty Dozen takes bikers up some of Pittsburgh's steepest hills.

Perezluha said she hoped to see her brother participating in next year's Dirty Dozen on a handcycle alongside fellow athlete and paraplegic Attila Domos, who also participated in this year's event.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter