Hello Everyone! Alright, so here’s the deal, I’m coming off of a pretty amazing year in terms of sports. Well, let’s call it a foundation year, as there were several firsts for me and a large portion of it was spent in the equipment acquisition phase. This spring, I competed in my first ever Paralympics Track and Field meet at Desert Challenge Games in Arizona. I think I can actually say that it was my first ever Track and Field meet that I’ve competed in, able bodied or adaptive. As my first Paralympic Track and Field competition, I also went through national classification, and landed as a T33 Fixed Review (fixed review means I need to go through classification annually, until I am changed to Confirmed status), then went on to qualify for Nationals and Worlds in my 100m race.
So, apparently if you qualify for Nationals, you try everything you can to get to Nationals and compete. So, that’s what I did, cutting budget corners here and there, and with a couple generous donations, room sharing with ParaSport Spokane, I found myself at US Paralympic Track and Field Nationals about a month after Desert Challenge Games. At this second ever competition, I PR’d my 100m again, qualifying for the World Championships, and became the 2017 US National T33 Champion. I didn’t get selected for the US Team to go to Worlds this first time around (which is not a huge deal, I’m just getting started and am surprised I made it that far), but am hopeful to continue training and get some more competitions in before the next World Championships in 2019.
Here’s the deal, as I’m still able to work full-time for now, I can generally afford sports and equipment on a recreational level. Having my first taste of competition this year however, I WANT and think I have the capacity to actually do very well with more! This summer I was able to purchase a used racing handcycle and have gone just a little crazy cranking up the miles, riding with a local retired world medalist, and a current world medalist. And, with the acquisition of a hand cycle, I can finally start Paratriathlon!
A very high level overview of expenses I could use some help with for this coming year, and the wonderful people at Adaptive Sports USA put together a tax-deductible, online campaign for my Athletic Development Fund (I blogged a bit about this earlier, they’ve just recently added the online support). Here’s the link, check it out:
The absolutely want to do list:
Desert Challenge Games, Arizona – approximately $1000 with airfare, hotel, food, and registration fees, I may have enough frequent flyer miles for airfare
US Paralympic Track and Field Nationals – approximately $1000 with airfare, hotel, food, and registration fees, I may have enough frequent flyer miles for airfare
CAF Triathlon, San Diego, CA – this one will be at least $1500 with airfare, hotel, food, and registration fees, I may have enough frequent flyer miles for airfare
The want to do, but not entirely sure I’ll be able to make happen list:
Redlands Classic Handcycling race (redlands, CA)
Handcycling Race in Boise, ID
At least one olympic distance Paratriathlon
One of the consumables I could use (I think I can try and cover the rest) some financial help with for all this training and competition, is tires. It’s roughly $160 to replace the tubular tires on my race chair, and about the same to replace tubes/tires all the way around for my hand cycle as well, and with the miles I am and continue to put on, I’m looking at a couple tire changes a year, short of any flats that may come along the way.
Without additional financial help, I can guarantee you that I’ll still be logging miles, however, with your financial help, I hope to be able to take this recreational level into competition. In addition to the list of events above that I’d like to hit for 2018, let me know if you have another event going on, I’d love to join if at all possible!
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