Sideline Stories: Clara Brown, Team USA

Clara has always been a competitive athlete – and her story is one of resilience. She was a gymnast, runner and skier growing up in Maine, but at age 12, she broke two neck vertebrae and suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury at gymnastics practice, halting her athletic career. In early college, after years of rehabilitation, relearning how to walk and adapting to life with significant nerve impairments, she acquired her first modified road bike as a means to become active again, and it quickly turned into a passion.

While working for a bike touring company post-graduation, she met a client who served on the Paralympic Advisory Committee who urged her to pursue competitive Paralympic cycling. Within weeks of that meeting, she found herself at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center at a talent identification camp. She showed immense promise and has since had stellar results and continues to progress on the world stage after only two years in the sport.

A close friend of our Director, Sheila, since her toddler days in their lakeside neighborhood (bonding over snacks and stories), Clara shares her enthusiasm for competing in Tokyo Summer ’21:

This past Monday marked one year out from the postponed Tokyo Paralympic Games, which will now take place next summer, immediately following the Olympic Games. I have been training harder than ever, staying focused on the end goal of bringing home some hardware for Team USA on both the road and the track. Though the 2020 racing season was cut short, my performance at the Track World Championships earlier this year (prior to the global pandemic) unofficially solidified my spot on Team USA. The official naming ceremony will take place after the conclusion of the Paralympic Team Trials in Minneapolis next June.

In April, I relocated to Whitefish, Montana, where I have been loving the opportunity to train on big mountain climbs with incredible views along the way. But Maine will always hold a special place in my heart, and I was fortunate to be able to make an extended trip back this summer and ride the familiar roads that I grew up on.