Achilles Volunteer Eileen Mannix Receives Overdue Honor

Achilles is an international track club for people with disabilities. There, volunteers run with the athletes so that runners with disabilities can enjoy the pleasure of running. One slight drawback is that the media usually write about these athletes and sometimes overlook the guide runners who make it possible for them to run in the first place. They don’t always get the acknowledgment that they deserve.

One of many Achilles volunteers deserving of this recognition is Eileen Mannix of the Philadelphia, Pa. Achilles chapter. That chapter recently awarded Eileen Mannix the Volunteer of the Year.

“I was not expecting that award,” said Mannix. Moreover, she missed the ceremony.

“I was visiting my daughter in Chicago,” said Mannix. That same weekend she was a guide runner for the Chicago Achilles chapter. The chapter needed guides that day and Mannix was glad to help out.

When she returned to Philadelphia and learned about her award, she was elated.

“I felt honored,” said Mannix, who had been an Achilles guide for six and a half years.

She first learned about Achilles while she was finishing the 2017 Philadelphia Marathon. As she was struggling to cross the finish line, she saw two runners carrying a tether.

“I was exhausted, but those two were so energetic; they could have kept going,” Mannix said.

Mannix learned that they were part of the Philadelphia Achilles chapter and she joined a few months later.

“At that point, I decided that I was no longer going to run for myself,” said Mannix. She wanted to help other people run. She said that Achilles was a good fit because she loves running and volunteering. For her, it was not about winning awards.

Bruce Linsky, a partially sighted Achilles runner, whom Mannix guided at the 2024 Philadelphia Distance Run’ 5K (3.1 miles) last month, was thrilled that Mannix received that honor.

“She’s like family,” said Linsky. “She definitely deserved it.”

Mannix had guided Linsky numerous times.

“He’s royalty,” said Mannix. “When we race together and people see us, they don’t yell, ‘go Achilles’ like they would for the other athletes. Instead they yell, ‘Go Bruce.’ So many people know him.”

Mannix added that another reason she enjoys running with Linsky is that she finds him interesting to talk to.

“He can talk about anything,” said Mannix. “I love animals so I enjoy hearing him telling me about how he raises puppies to eventually become guide dogs (for blind people).”

To learn more about Achilles, log onto www.achillesinternational.org