Mud, Miles, and Meaning at Dix Park
- Jessica Lee
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
On December 14, 2025, members of our Rotary Club of the Capital City showed up at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh for a day that was equal parts cold, muddy, and incredibly uplifting. The CX-MAS cyclocross race featured an adapted category that welcomed 13 adapted cyclists from North Carolina Adapted Sports and the Wounded Warrior Project (NC), tackling a 1.3-mile course in true winter conditions.
North Carolina Adapted Sports (NCAS) exists to create recreational and competitive sport opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities, with a focus on helping each athlete reach their potential. If you have ever wondered what “inclusion” looks like when it gets practical, this is it: bikes, mud, teamwork, and a community that refuses to let barriers be the final word.
That mission mirrors Rotary in a way that feels almost too perfect. Rotary’s mission is service, integrity, and advancing goodwill and peace through community leaders, and our causes center on creating lasting change in communities. When access expands, dignity grows, and people get to participate fully, that is service with real weight behind it.
The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) supports post-9/11 wounded, ill, and injured veterans through no-cost programs that help warriors and their families thrive. At its core, WWP is about restoring connection, building strength, amplifing encouragement, and creating community, where healing and forward momentum are truly possible.
Rotary’s values come alive in that setting. Fellowship grows through shared experience. Service is hands-on and unglamorous. Leadership shows up as steady presence. The WWP community and adaptive athletes brought all of that to Dix Park, and in doing so, brought out the best in everyone around them.
A huge thank you to Oak City Cycling Project, one of the event’s organizers. This local, independent bike shop in downtown Raleigh is deeply committed to outreach, community, and getting more people riding. From planning and course setup to race flow and end-of-day breakdown, every detail was handled with care and love.
Rotary and Oak City Cycling share something important: both are built on the belief that small actions compound. One well-run event can create confidence for a first-time racer, a new friendship, or a new sense of belonging. That ripple effect is how communities get stronger.
Three of our club members volunteered as spotters: Edward Bryan Hagy III, Alejandro Morales, and Mark Carter. Their job was simple to describe and meaningful to do: help racers navigate the hardest sections of the course, especially steep hills, sharp corners, and muddy areas where extra support could prevent a fall or keep a rider moving forward.
The day also highlighted how collaboration makes inclusion real. We watched different bike clubs and community partners come together to lay out the course, organize races, disassemble everything afterward, and clean up. It was a reminder that community does not happen by accident, it is built, one muddy stake and one helping hand at a time.
Why we do what we do
Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self,” but sometimes those words can feel abstract until you are standing in the cold, boots sinking into mud, cheering as an athlete pushes through a tough section and keeps going. In that moment, service is not a concept. It is presence. It is attention. It is saying, “You belong here,” and meaning it.
Adaptive sports makes space for people to show up as whole athletes, not as an inspiring story from a distance, but as a competitor on the same course, on the same day, with the same right to joy and challenge. NC Adapted Sports creates those opportunities, and the community around them helps make it possible.
This spring, our club will participate in more events to support these efforts. Details to follow. For now, we are simply grateful: grateful for the athletes who showed up, the organizers who made room, and the volunteers who made the day safer and better for everyone.
If you want to join the Rotary Club of the Capital City for future service projects, we would love to have you. Come volunteer with us, laugh with us, and get a little muddy with us. We promise: the photos will be worth it.
