Ben Carey, this year's USARS Indoor National Champion, flew all the way in from Florida the day of the event to race in NSC 1 - Iniation on November 9th. Carey, who currently resides in Frenchtown, NJ, was attending a Crohn's Disease seminar in Tampa; Ben was diagnosed with Crohn's at the age of 17 but has never let it stop him from pursuing the sport that he loves.

In the first event of the night, the 500m sprint, Ben was involved in a 5 man pile up where the entire pro men's field took a nasty spill going into turn 3. He managed to fall directly onto Chad Horne's helmet, leaving him in a world of pain. Carey, who has always been known to pop right up after a crash, didn't get up from this one; that's when it was made evident he needed to go to the hospital.

Ben spent 3 days in St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way, WA, at which point they determined that ben had crashed so hard that he managed to bruise his pancreas, the organ that controls the enzymes in the body. Because of this injury, he was kept under medical supervision until the doctors were confident he would be okay to travel home. Having Crohn's, they had be particularly careful with Carey's situation.

Ben traveled back home yesterday and says that despite his crash and stay in the hospital, he loved the event and looks forward to the next one. We wish Ben a speedy recovery and look forward to having him at NSC 2, which will take place in January.