Sunchasers is a documentary film that explores the world of cycling through the eyes of three disabled women, each in distinct periods of their careers. Sunchasers posits that these motivated, disciplined and accomplished individuals resemble professional able-bodied athletes far more than non-athletes struggling with disabilities.
Barbara Buchan, a seasoned veteran still at the top of her game at the age of 53; Karissa Whitsell, ranked number one in the world in tandem cycling and is still in the midst of what is considered to be the peak for women cyclists; and Greta Neimanas, in her first years of cycling competition.
Barbara started cycling when she was just a girl of 15. Since the first time she raced, she has never known a life that did not include competitive cycling. She was competing for a place on the National Team in 1982 when another rider caused a massive 26 bicycle crash. Fifteen riders were injured, Barbara received a massive head trauma, broke both arms, fractured her tibia. She was in a coma for two months, received multiple surgeries over decades and still suffers grand-mal seizures to this day. At her age, most of the women she competes with are young enough to be her daughters, she routinely dominates her field of competition and came back from the Beijing Paralympics with a World Record and a gold medal.
Karissa Whitsell has also dedicated all of her adult life to cycling, she is 28. She is dominating her field of competitors. She feels pressures from many angles: finding training partners to pilot her when she is not in competition, maintaining her training schedule with school and a part-time job. Women are considered to be at there peak performance for cycling in their early thirties. Karissa is legally-blind, the only way for her to compete internationally is on a tandem bicycle. She requires a pilot of international caliber, but there are few eligible pilots in the US. We will see her struggle with various pilots, training partners and navigate her personal life as she tries to forge an independent life.
The first time Greta Neimanas first saw cycling competition was Karissa Whitsell winning gold in the Athens Paralympics in 2004. She was just a sophomore in highschool and was hooked on cycling from the moment she saw two tandems racing on the velodrome at over 40 miles per hour. Greta was born with one forearm. She uses a prothetic device and handlebar attachment for competition. Sunchasers documents her journey from her first national competition to her bid for a medal in Beijing.
In September 2008, the team joined 4,000 disabled athletes from over 150 countries in the 13th Paralympic Games
held in Beijing, China. Sunchasers shadowed the cyclists throughout the seven-day competition, documenting their experiences as they braved the pollution-choked roads around Beijing and jostled for position in the new velodrome at speeds over 40 miles per hour.
With disabled people comprising the largest minority group in the United States, Sunchasers locates itself in the intersection of competitive athletics and disability.
The documentary actively explores concepts of disability, competition, athleticism, and the personal struggle for independence. However, Sunchasers resists single- issue politics; it is neither a polemic nor an advocacy film.
Sunchasers is a story of athletes striving for perfection. It is a story that documents the transcendence of the body through athletic competition.
