By Karen Dempsey

On a break between races at the 2022 Adaptive Sports New England Track Meet, Delmace Mayo brings a lighthearted ease to a gathering of young athletes, occasionally reaching out to grab a younger racer’s chair and tip it back slowly while the child shrieks with delight.

Gathered with the small crew alongside the track at Braintree High School, Delmace has advice for novice racers: “Don’t let these events overwhelm you,” he says. “You’re racing yourself, and your own times.”

That’s Delmace’s philosophy with every event, and it’s one he plans to bring with him to Colorado next month as he competes to defend the 100 meter dash wheelchair racing title he claimed at the 2021 Move United Junior Nationals in the under-17 division.  In total, he plans to compete in 5 track events plus 3 field events while in Colorado.  This will be Delmace’s third trip to Junior Nationals, and he has been wheelchair racing for about 7 years with both Adaptive Sports New England and the Hospital for Special Care Cruisers out of Connecticut.  He has grown and developed as a racer in that time.

The 16-year-old said he still gets nervous before events, but he focuses on himself and his own goals rather than those he is competing against. His quiet determination peeks through when he talks about fighting the wind tunnel at his high school’s training track, building up his confidence, and “looking to clean up” at Nationals in a year that will be his last competing in that division. He is already mentally preparing for moving into a new age division next year—and anticipating the challenges of working his way back up.

Delmace draws a parallel to starting his freshman year high school this past September, a dramatic change from eighth grade when he and the tight group of friends he describes as the “popular geek squad” were the oldest in their middle school. Starting high school meant dropping back down to the bottom rung. The key to getting through that transition, he said, was making some new friends among the upperclassmen, and always knowing who will have his back.

The younger athletes on the field at Braintree have that kind of support in Delmace as he calls out information on how the next heat will work, points them toward the flag when the anthem starts, and guides them on where to line up their wheels. The starter pistol rings out a shot and, with guidance from their friend and fellow athlete, the racers launch ahead with the wind at their backs.