Para Powerlifting - July 25, 2023

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Now here is your host, two-time Paralympian, Brock Richardson.

Hey, welcome to another edition of The Neutral Zone. As you know, my name is Cam Jenkins, and I'm your host for today. One last time before Brock comes back from his honeymoon, and we all hope that he enjoyed that, and I'm sure he'll talk a little bit about that when he returns. On today's show, we're going to interview Jake Beaton, a competitor in the sport of para powerlifting. We're also going to bring you in on our series of interviews from the Canadian Paralympic Committee Summit, which were conducted by Brock back in March, and today we're joined by Claire Buchanan, and Josh Watson. So without further ado, let's get into our headlines.

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Nike has ended their relationship with Hockey Canada after Nike initially put their partnership on hold in October of 2022. The iconic Nike Swoosh has been a staple of the Team Canada uniform since 1999.

The FIFA Women's World Cup began on Thursday. Canada played a game against Nigeria and tied at zero. Their next match will be against Ireland on July 26th, followed by a game against Australia on July 31st. I, for one, am interested to see how Canada will do in this tournament, they are projected to win it as the Olympic champion. However, with the likes of Janine Beckie out with injury, Christine Sinclair now being 40, and with Stephanie Labbé having retired, it'll be interesting to see how the squad does.

Wow, I didn't know Christine Sinclair was 40 years old, and she's still the best soccer player in Canada. Alex Galchenyuk has entered the NHL, and NHLPA Players' Assistance Program. This comes days after his team, the Phoenix Coyotes, [inaudible 00:02:24] the player's contract that he signed a few days before. Galchenyuk was involved in a private property hit-and-run last week, and was charged with disorderly contact, failure to obey, resisting arrest, and threatening or intimidating. A spokesperson said the hit-and-run was only property damage, and no injuries occurred. Upon his arrest, he was belligerent with officers, and at one point claimed that with one phone call he could have the officers and their families killed. I did not know this side of Alex Galchenyuk, and I am shocked that he conducted himself the way that he did, and I hope that he gets the help that he needs.

The World Para Athletic Championships have come to an end, and Canada finished with 14 medals, two gold, seven silver, and five bronze. This is Canada's best showing since 2013. Some notable highlights was Renee Fossel bringing home silver in the T38 discus throw. Renee took home bronze last World Championships, and finished fourth at the Tokyo Paralympics. Brent Lakatos took home multiple medals on the track, most notably breaking the world championship record in the T53 800 meter. This is fantastic momentum for Team Canada heading into Paris 2024.

And with that, those are your headlines for this week, and instead of a chat about one of our headlines that we usually do, we wanted to tell you a little bit about the sport of para powerlifting ahead of our interview with para powerlifter Jake Beaton. So Josh, why don't you start us off?

Sure, Cam. Powerlifting is one of the paralympic movements fastest growing sports in terms of participants, and is now practiced in nearly a hundred countries.

The sport represents the ultimate test of upper body strength, with athletes competing in the bench press discipline. Competitors must lower the bar to their chest, hold it motionless on the chest, and then press it upwards to arm's length with locked elbows. Athletes are given three attempts, and the winner is the athlete who lifts the highest number of kilograms. Such is the strength of athletes competing in this sport, this is not uncommon to see a competitor lift more than three times their body weight.

Wow. It is open to male and female athletes with eight eligible physical impairments. Athletes compete in one sport class across 10 different weight categories per gender. Major competitions include the Paralympic Games, which take place every four years, the Biannual World Championships, the Triennial Regional Championships, and the Annual World Cup, and Grand Prix events.

The competitive categories for men are 49 kilo, 54 kilo, 59 kilo, 65 kilo, 72 kilo, 80 kilo, 88 kilo, 97 kilo, 107 kilo, and plus 107 kilo divisions. Women compete in the 41 kilo class, the 45 kilo class, the 50, 55, 61, 67, 73, 79, 86, and plus 86 kilogram divisions.

As noted before, athletes in powerlifting raise the bar to a locked elbow position after pressing the bar against their chest and holding it motionless. This is also signalled from the chief referee's signal. After receiving the signal, they say start, the lifter must lower the bar to the chest, and again, hold it motionless, and then even equal extension of both arms with locked elbows, like I said earlier. When held motionless and controlled in this position, the audible signal is rack. This is the referee's call to give the bar its return to the rack after the bench press, then an immediate decision shall be given by three nominated international referees through a system of white and red lights. Two or more white lights signify a good lift, and two or more red lights reflect an incomplete lift. Each athlete has three attempts, and upon discretion of the jury, a fourth attempt may be allowed to achieve a new world record, but this attempt does not count towards the final competition results.

And with that, you have a little background information in regards to para powerlifting. Then coming up after the break, we're going to be speaking with Jake Beaton. He's a para powerlifter from North Bay, Ontario, and he'll be talking to us about his career, how he got into the sport, and what training looks like, and finally, about some of the upcoming competitions. But first, if you want to reach out to us via Twitter, here's how you can do it.

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And welcome back to The Neutral Zone. As I was saying before, I'm Cam Jenkins, your host, along with Claire Buchanan, and Josh Watson. Along with us now, we have Jake Beaton, he's been active in sports his entire life, trying any sport he could get into. He's been a para ice hockey player that I've played against, and has now turned his attention to para powerlifting. He joins us from his home in North Bay, Ontario. Jake, welcome to the program.

Thanks for having me.

Now, Jake, on the panel here, we know you mostly from your time in para ice hockey, but for our viewers, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I grew up in North Bay. As Cam said, I've played various sports my whole life. I started playing hockey when I was eight or nine years old. I was always into sports growing up, in school, whether it be baseball or any [inaudible 00:09:10] sports.

You mentioned that you played para hockey, and now you've transitioned to powerlifting, how long have you been a powerlifter, and what got you into the sport?

I first started lifting when I was 14 years old. Growing up, as a teenager in high school, I was always a gym rat, so it just came naturally to me to get into more power sports. My first real powerlifting experience was probably when I was 20 years old, when I started college. I was in the Sport Conditioning Program at Canadore, and got into it through professors and teachers at Canadore.

Now, for those of us that might not know a lot about what goes into training for powerlifting, can you tell us what your training schedule is like, maybe what a typical day looks like for you?

I train three to four days a week. Usually para powerlifting is only bench press, there's no squat or deadlifts like regular powerlifting, so it's all ... I bench three to four days a week, and with that I also do certain accessory lifts depending on what day it is.

Now you've competed both at home and abroad, can you tell us what the difference is to you personally, whether you're competing on home soil or away from home?

When I'm in Ontario or Canadian meets, it's more of a have fun experience, because it doesn't really count towards the Paralympics or international meets. I only have one competitor when I compete nationally, that's myself. I've never competed within Canada against somebody else in my own weight class, so it's more about my own personal goals, breaking my own personal records, whereas competing internationally, I'm competing against, anywhere from 5 to 30 lifters in a weight class against myself.

That's a lot of people to go up against. Do you have any favourite places that you've travelled to for powerlifting?

2018, I was in Bogotá, Columbia, it was my first ever international meet. It was beautiful to see. It's an amazing experience for my first international experience competing.

So with powerlifting, are you training year-round, and travelling year-round, or is there a season? What kind of travelling and competitions do you have coming up soon?

For international, the way it goes is there's one mandatory meet a year, but there isn't really off-season per se because I'm always training towards that one meet or towards a Canadian meet. I have coming up next month, I'm going to the Canadian Powerlifting Union Western Championships in Brandon, Manitoba.

Just finish my sentence for me, "If I can achieve blank in my powerlifting career, I'll consider it successful."

As a highly competitive person, my ultimate goal is to compete at Paralympics, preferably a medal out of Paralympics, that would ... my next opportunity to do that would be 2020, [Inaudible 00:12:30] LA.

Well, Jake, we just want to thank you very much for taking some time for us today to answer some questions about para powerlifting, and we want to wish you the best of luck with those upcoming competitions.

Thank you.

And that was Jake Beaton, para powerlifter, and former para ice hockey player. He joined us today from North Bay, Ontario. If you like what you've heard, and want to leave us a voicemail, here's how you can do it.

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And welcome back to The Neutral Zone, and with me along for this ride is Claire Buchanan, and Josh Watson. We just finished interviewing Jake Beaton, who is a para powerlifter, and former para ice hockey player, and he came from his home in North Bay, Ontario. Josh, let's start off with you. What did you think of the interview, and what do you think of powerlifting?

I really enjoyed chatting with Jake. I haven't seen him in a while, so it was nice to catch up with him again. As I sort of said in the interview, my experience with Jake has been through para ice hockey, but I saw that he was involved in para powerlifting now and thought, "Well, we don't talk very much about that, don't know much about it, so let's get him on and let's find out a little bit more." It sounds like it's a pretty straightforward sport, it's the bench press in terms of the lift involved. He really seems to enjoy it, he's done well at it from what I've seen. Overall, I thought it was a great interview.

Yeah. Jake is one of those names in the sledge hockey world that most people know if you mention them. That was actually my first interaction with him personally. I've just been one of those people that we've been friends on social media, and you follow him, and you see that he's been doing, like you said, really well in powerlifting now, and ... I mean, all the power to him, and all those other athletes that do that sport.
The bench press is one of my hardest movements that seems to, the number on the bar seems to budge a little slower than most in regards to my lifting, but it's exciting to see the sport grow, and to hear that it's in over a hundred countries now is pretty cool. It's just insane how much weight these athletes are pushing. It's really one of those sports with classification, really anyone that opens up the window for para-athletes, and have as many people involved as possible. I'm excited to see where he is going to go with the sport, and like he said, hopefully, we see him on the podium with a medal around his neck in LA.

Yeah, it would be great to see that. I know back in my younger days, back in the 1800s, I remember para powerlifting as well, and it was the bench press. I remember going to, I think it was the Windsor Classic Indoor Games. I don't know if that's still around or not, but that's where I remember doing some para powerlifting, and doing that, and it was in ... we trained in Mississauga, at the, I guess, it's the new city hall now, the one that looks like a jail. I always say it looks like a jail, but they had a weightlifting center there, so that's where a few of us from Erinoak would always go one day of the week. I don't know what day of the week it was, but yeah, that's kind of ... I didn't realize that it would blossom into this sport for para-athletes that it is today, that it's so many countries around the world, and you get to travel, and it's so nice to see how far it's come.
Jake, once again, I mostly know him from para ice hockey. He's probably scored on me once or twice, who hasn't? But I don't really know him as a para powerlifter, but I have the same sentiments where, absolutely, I hope that he is able to go to the Paralympics because there's probably, I've never been, but there's probably no feeling like it, to be able to go to the Paralympics, and to be able to compete in front of the world, and if you're lucky enough, to medal. All the luck to him. He's put a lot of dedication into it, and I hope that he is really able to do that.
So let's get into the next portion of the program. We're going to bring you another ... in our series of interviews conducted by Brock Richardson at the Canadian Paralympic Committee Summit, and those were back in March. Today's interview will be with para cyclist Nathan Clement. Nathan lives and trains in West Vancouver, BC, and we hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

Nathan, before we delve into para-cycling, I understand that you won a bronze medal in the 50-metre butterfly at the Toronto 2015 Para Pan Am Games. Can we start there, and what that was like?

Oh, wow. Winning a bronze in front of home soil in Toronto, having family there, and being at an incredible facility that the Toronto Pan Am Center was, was one of the biggest honours, but also just an opportunity of redemption after a few years of struggling, not making a team in 2013, falling apart in the finals in 2014 at the Pan Pacific Championships. Then coming into Pan Ams, the goal was to get on the podium, and to squeak it out, to get on the podium, at the wall on the finish was a moment that I will always hold to my heart. Just seeing the emotions, seeing the celebration of my parents, and the crowd, seeing them realize that we won a bronze is something that I'll never forget.

Yeah. I think people don't really understand until they experience it, what it is like winning on home soil. It doesn't matter whether it's in your home province or just in your country, it's just that feeling of, "I had family, I had friends, I have everybody around me." It sounds to me, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds to me like you had a moment of, "Did this actually happen to me? Did I actually get a bronze medal at home at the Para Pan Am Games?" Am I right in hearing that in your voice?

It was, yeah. It was a moment of hitting that wall, looking up at the clock, and looking up at the scoreboard, having to do a double take just to make sure that was the right number beside my name, seeing a three there, and then it was ... the next 15 seconds after that was an absolute blur to me. I think I grabbed my teammate, and Elaine, beside me, and just lost my mind, because he won the silver, Jean-Michel Lavallière, he won the silver, so him and I were celebrating together.
Then as I got out of the pool, and I went into the back room to do testing with our sports science team, it didn't really sink in until Shane Esau, who was one of our sports science specialists, pretty well said, "Nathan, you just won a bronze," and the emotions really took over in that second. It was something truly special, but having that crowd there, the crowd was loud every single night at that pool, and it was really special to see for myself, but also to see for so many of my teammates, get up there, get on the podium, whether it's gold, silver, or bronze, and get to hear that roar from the crowd when their name was called.

So you obviously, at some point, made a decision to go from swimming to para-cycling. Can you talk me through when that was and how you made the transition?

Back in 2018, I decided to step away from para-swimming, and as I was stepping away from the sport, I'd always wanted to travel, to explore different countries, and go backpacking, because of being a high-performance athlete and training for so many years, I pretty well turned it into a full year-round job, where I couldn't have that time to relax and sit back. As I started travelling, I was seeing all these great countries, all these rich diverse cultures. Something for me when I was a swimmer, I would always ride my bike, cycle as kind of my decompressor sport, kind of something I would love to do with friends, or even just go by myself riding around Vancouver. So as I was travelling from country to country, to country, I kept thinking to myself, "How cool would it be to see all of these spots by bicycle, by bike?"
As I finished my trip around the world, I came back home and started to train, but also save up money for the opportunity to do a world ride, but as I was getting into the full swings of training, COVID came and switched everything up because you couldn't travel at that time. In the midst of all that, I needed to see if I could do 10, 11, two weeks on the bike, let alone the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of days that a world ride would take on. As summer came in 2020, my dad, my dog, and I decided to go on a bike packing trip from Fernie, BC, right along the BC Alberta border to Vancouver. As I was going through that ride, going through that trip, just that burning fire of competing, of racing just really started to set back in, and I just wanted to give it a go. I wanted to give competing another go.

That's awesome, and I love that. You did a 1000-kilometre ride and the ... I'm going to just be fully transparent while doing this interview. We have had all these athletes come today as we're doing this interview, and the first thing I said to you was, "Mad respect for doing a 1000 kilometre ride." We've never met before, and so can you walk me through that decision, where it's like, "Yeah, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this very well, and for the right reasons of raising awareness of para-sports?"

Yeah. A major part of my life growing up is as someone who has dystonia, and has limited functionality of my left leg, my left arm, and left side of my body. I've always been put in a category of, "Oh, it's great that you're doing this. Yeah, you finished, woo-hoo," and celebrating the fact that I am a person with a disability, but not an athlete at the end of the day. One thing that that bike ride did, but also what I want to do, and why I did the bike across BC, is showing what can you do as someone with dystonia, with various different conditions and diversabilities.
When you push yourself to your maximum, when you go out there you have a dream, you have a goal, and you put the time in to just dig deep, and find a way through it, and that's something everyone has, everyone has their dreams, but to really reach them you have to find that next level. I feel ... There's so many great athletes that are really leading the way in showing what can be done as an athlete, and as an athlete with a disability, and I wanted to really showcase what is possible when you push yourself to the max.

I think the biggest thing when we are individuals with disabilities, is that people think we've accomplished something by just simply getting up. It's not enough to say, "You got up, you did something. You did that, good for you. Congratulations," and the words, and the fight that you have to say, "No, I'm doing something." I often go by the motto of actions speak louder than words, is that where it was for you, where you're like, "Listen, I've said my words for years and years and years, and I need to do the action?"

I value them both, action and words, they can be powerful together, where I, being on a tricycle bike now, I get so many conversations as I'm out for rides, or even stopped at a light where I have someone going up to me saying, "What's that? Why are you on that? What's the purpose of that?" Just educating people on a different world that they may not be used to and familiar with.
Something for me, especially when I was a swimmer back in the day, there is a part of casual swimming culture where you have para-athletes at different competitions, and they're going up against, I'm going to use the term able-bodied athletes, and as you finish the race ... there's been a couple times where I was a 50-meter butterfly, so I was a sprinter. I'm going up against other athletes who may finish the race in like 30 seconds, 31 seconds, and I come into the wall at 36, 37 seconds, and as I'm touching the wall, I get claps. People are clapping for me just because I finished the race, and as an athlete, and after having a terrible race, after having a race you're not happy with, that can be very demeaning. It can be almost more humiliating than losing to someone by four or five seconds.

I absolutely agree with what you're saying. I competed in bocce for a number of years, and people didn't know what a good shot was. So if you were within X number of inches from the jack ball, it didn't matter that the opponent sitting right next to you could literally see the entire jack, and you're like, "You're cheering because why?" Because you're just, and I don't mean this in a negative way, but you're just not educated enough in para sports that you don't know what it is you're watching. People aren't doing it to be annoying, to be debilitating, but it comes out where it's like, "Oh, here we go again." So I respect big time the action that you're talking about of, "Look, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do this to show it to you, and then you can applaud and say, good for you, you did it." Because that's the reward you want, you want the reward for, "Good for you, you did it," and not, "Good for you, you got up, finished the race in last place."

Yeah. That's the thing at the end of the day, is we're in a place right now where the paralympic movement's growing, and it's growing at a speed of 15, 20 years ago it was a completely different world, let alone 30 years ago. We've had so many great athletes in the past who really trailblazed for us to be where we are now, where we have the opportunities to have media summits, where we have the opportunities to have sponsorship with major corporate brands, and just growing with the opportunities with CBC, but there's so many other steps that need to be taken. Our role as athletes in this moment, it's important to have those conversations with people who may not be adverse into the para world, then introduce them in there so we can help those next generations be seen as high-performance athletes in the first place.

Where do you see ... Right now Paralympians don't receive funding as we record this today. I hope that we are going to change this. What I mean by funding is they don't receive funding for medals. Do you see that as being the biggest misstep that we need to accomplish, or is there something else that you feel we need to do?

I feel with medals, with representation in media, with opportunities of competitions, and just development of the sports in many parts of the world, and even here when it comes to funding, let alone being medals, or just yearly earnings for athletes, they all go hand in hand together. I feel the direction we're going, the work that is being done at this time is really going to set up that conversation. I would not be surprised, and I hope this is the case in the next games or two, that medal earnings will be given to para-athletes. I did a story, I actually did some work with AMI last year as a freelance editor, and I covered a story on a Paralympic athlete that had to retire due to lack of funding, and it's quite challenging.
It's quite difficult for athletes to be put in positions like that, where equipment is so expensive, where, let alone my bike ... I'm very fortunate I have an incredible supportive team with Cycling Canada, but if I had to pay for my bike on my own, I would not be here today. I would not be able to have this conversation because that would put me so far in debt and in the red. But there's aspects of getting accessible training equipment that is so important to athletes, and programs with the Canadian Paralympic Committee. Other programs that are going on right now are leading that right way, where we can have funding for medal earnings, where we can have greater yearly funding for athletes so they don't have to work three, four jobs, depending on what they're doing, and just giving athletes the opportunities to really focus on sport, and then reach their peak.

Where do you see yourself, we're a couple of years away from Paris 2024, where do you see yourself there, and what do you hope to accomplish?

It's been quite the athletic journey coming back into cycling, and I would love more than anything else to, one, be in Paris, and two, be in contention for a medal. I want to come down to the line in Paris for a medal, and that's what I want, and that's what my training is. I want to be able to have an opportunity to stand on that podium.

What sets para-cycling apart from every other sport?

I've had a very unique journey, where I was a para soccer player, became a para swimmer, and now I'm a para cyclist, where soccer is, at least in my own journey, is very much a team game, and in swimming I was racing 50 meters, that was it. Now, I am getting up on the bike going 20k time trials, going 30, 40k road races, where you are pushing your body to its limit for 30, 40, 50, an hour long, and just trying to be at your best while being in the red the whole time. One of the biggest differences I find is just the opportunity, training as well, just to be outside, to be outdoors, and be in surroundings.
One thing I love ... Soccer is such a great community in Vancouver, same as swimming, but there's been nothing like the cycling culture. There's been nothing like just being able to meet so many great people, have so many amazing conversations on my ride for training out in Vancouver, where they see the training and they want to learn more. They want to understand the story of not just myself, but other para-athletes too. I feel it's something so unique, where you're able to ride 40, 50, 60, a 100 plus K a day, and along those rides you're running into multiple different people, you're having multiple different conversations, and you're really learning about their world, but you're also sharing about yours too.

It really is a community in the para-sports world, and I think that that's one of the most underrated things that we don't talk about. It doesn't matter what sport you play or what you do, it really is a community. Nathan, we really appreciate you doing this interview. Thank you so much, and we'll have to have you back on again soon.

Thank you very much for having me.

And that was our very own Brock Richardson speaking to Nathan Clement, a para cyclist from West Vancouver, British Columbia. Now with the last little part of the program, I thought we'll talk about Nathan Clements. A lot of people might not know that he was also in para-swimming, which he retired in 2018, and then he went to para-cycling in 2020. Claire, maybe we'll start with you. I know you've been a two-sport athlete before. Now, with Nathan, it wasn't at the same time, he did it at two different times, but can you maybe talk about what it takes to go from one high-performance para-sport to another high-performance para-sport?

I mean, just talking about the longevity of being an athlete itself, it's tiring. You're constantly putting energy into it, whether it's resting or actually being active to train. Yes, there is a difference, a little bit, with playing two sports at the same time rather than playing one, and switching to another. But at that level, when you are in sports, and being on the international stage in those sports, I think your routines and your habits, I don't think that they would change very much. You're still making sure that you are fueling your body properly, and getting enough rest, and using the support that you have around you. I just think that it doesn't create a different mindset, it's just being able to ... You're probably putting a lot more time into prehab, and preventative maintenance when you're trying to extend your athletic career into another sport, because you can't freeze time, you're getting older, and you're getting stronger at the same time.

Father Time gets you no matter what.

Father Time is always creeping up behind you. So it's impressive when athletes can do that, and I give all the power and gratitude towards them because they're consistent and it shows.

Yeah. Josh, how about you? I know that you do play para ice hockey, and then you're also a thrower as well, what's your perspective on competing in two sports?

Well, certainly I was lucky in that my sports were not necessarily offered side by side, so I didn't have to try to juggle them both, because I can honestly tell you I couldn't. I would find that far too much work. I love my sports, but I'm definitely a recreational athlete, shall we say, but to-

That's okay, I was too.

Yeah, absolutely. We had many a good time together. Let's see, in terms of just being able to manage two high-performance sports, I think it's very impressive. I don't know how you get out of the pool one day and decide, "Oh, I think I'm going to go try cycling," that wouldn't have been my first thing that I would jump to. For me, it was just a matter of one was cross-training for the other, like hockey kept me in somewhat shape to go and throw, and then throwing kept me active in the summertime when I wasn't on the ice, so it balanced itself out quite nicely for me.

As far as Nathan goes, he's doing para-swimming now, but before he did para-cycling. So have either of you seen para-cycling before? Do you have any comments on him and what he accomplished in para-cycling? Josh, maybe we'll start with you.

Yeah, I think it was actually reversed. I think he did the swimming first, and then the cycling.

Oh, correct. Sorry. He did.

Which is totally cool. Yeah, no problem. I've seen a little bit of para-cycling, not very much, and most of it is like tandem track cycling with visual impairment, so I can't really speak very much to what he's done on the track as a cyclist. I did noticed in his bio that he was a tri-cyclist, which I assume means that his bike had two back wheels rather than just the one, probably for stability. I see he's a T1 classification, so I would suspect that that has something to do with limb impairment, I should know, but I don't. But yeah, just seeing some of the things he's done in cycling added onto what he did as a swimmer, with his bronze medal in the Para Pan Am games, the accomplishments he's had is really quite remarkable.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm kind of in awe of his career because he was able to do para-cycling and para-swimming at such a high-level, and to be able to do it in two different sports, like I said, I'm just in awe that he's able to accomplish something like that. Cycling, and I'm not sure what cycle he was using, but if it was one that used his hands to be able to propel the bike, and then para-swimming, that is a lot of upper arm strength, which is really good to be able to use that upper arm strength to be able to compete in both areas. So I'm just really in awe of him, and what he's accomplished. Claire, do you have any-

Yeah, he's ... I think when you see athletes like that, you kind of get a sense that they are just natural athletes, sport is a perfect fit for them, and they just flourish when they try out new sports. It's also cool that ... It shows that he just has a passion for sport and being active. What ignited him to even get into para cycling was that he did a 1000 kilometre bike trail that inspired him to try it out, so it's just things like that that they're just like ... I don't know, I don't think I would ever-

I'm just going to do a 1000 kilometres, and that kind of inspires me to do that sport.

I don't think I would ever have a morning where I wake up and say, "Hey, I think I'm going to go push for a 1000 kilometres." I mean, it's special when you see stuff like that. Thinking back with situations like Tyler McGregor doing the Terry Fox, the skate or run every year to raise money, and it's wild what the body can do. It just goes back to that, that he's just got the knack for it, and the passion for it, and it's treating him really well.

Yeah, it does kind of feel like he might be the type that if he hadn't found cycling, he'd have found something else.

Yeah, he wouldn't be just doing ... he wouldn't be retired.

No. He's not a couch potato.

I think with a lot of para-athletes, it's good that they end up doing something else, because as we've seen countless number of times, once they're done their career, it's very hard for them to ... they fall into a post-depression because they don't have, and we've talked about this before, they don't have the glare of the lights, and the crowd screaming their names, and so on and so forth. It would be really interesting to find out what percentage of athletes end up going through that post-depression, and how hard it is to come out of that to be able to, for lack of a better way to say it, to function, because sometimes you're back in the real world, and you might have to work, or whatever the case is. Sometimes it's a matter of then you coach, because if you can't play anymore then you coach. So what are your thoughts, Claire, on when a person comes to that point in their career where they're done and they've got to move forward?

Yeah, it's tough when you go from such, being at the international level especially, and every day is dedicated to this one goal, and this one sport. When you wake up and you no longer have that routine, like you always know what your next day and what your schedule looks like, it's laid out for you when you're competing at that level, everything's laid out for you, you just got to do it. It's tough to go to a routine that you have to recreate yourself, and then you're trying to find out what you like outside of sport, and so it's natural for athletes to stay in sport.
I am a example of that myself. I am working in sport, and I am looking to get back into playing recreational wheelchair basketball, just because I love sport. I'm not trying to do anything highly competitive with it or anything, we enjoy playing sports, and that's just naturally what we fall back onto. It's those situations where you find athletes like Alana Nichols from the United States, where she won gold in wheelchair basketball, and then went and medaled numerous times in downhill skiing, and now she's surfing and winning medals, and staying on the podium there. It's just, I guess, in our nature, and it just becomes a part of you, that sport just ... you can't really fully detach from it, I don't think you want to either.

No. Tatyana McFadden's another one. She was a racer for years, and then she's gotten into, I think she got into skiing as well, now that I think about it.

Yeah.

Again, did just as well at skiing, and you just look at them and go, "Okay, is there anything you can't do? Really? Come on."

Yeah. You almost want to be like, "Okay, show off. All right."

Leave some medals for the rest of us. Come on here. But yeah, it's really, really impressive when you see things like that. I mean, even for yourself, Claire, you've mentioned before that you're at a stage where Dash is getting ready to play sports, and you want to introduce him to some of your sports, so that's got to be something else to keep in mind.

Yeah, exactly. It's cool that it hasn't been like ... I'm not pushing him into sports or it's not like, "Hey, I'm doing this so you're going to do it too," kind of thing. He just naturally loves being in the atmosphere, and wants to get on the ice and try it out. Yeah, it's exciting, and who knows, who knows what'll happen, right?

Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah. It must be the hardest thing that you're at the end of your career, and I think some people really rage against the machine to be able to say that they're at the end of their career. I can't even imagine what that's like. Just from a casual sporting, my experience from playing para ice hockey, but mine was more an injury because of my carpal tunnel, so my decision was made for me. At first, it's kind of hard, but then you get used to it, and it's enjoyable just waking up late on a Saturday, you don't have to go to practice, or just going and watching, and not having to play to have that pressure. But everyone's different, some people love that pressure, and love to be able to keep doing it, for me, it was just a nice transition of, "Okay, my wrists are really hurting me. It's not worth it to play para ice hockey anymore, so I'm going to ease into retirement." No problem whatsoever, and that's from casual para ice hockey, that's not from competitive competition.

I don't know. For me, I ended up sitting out a season of para ice hockey because of a shoulder injury, and I was a trooper, I went and I supported my team, and I sat up in the stands going, "This is driving me crazy." I couldn't stand not being on the ice, it's like, "Why can't you see this play coming? Come on."

It's so much easier when you're in the stands. No matter what sport it is, if you're in the stands, you see it from a different perspective.

Oh, absolutely.

That other people don't see it compared to on the ice, so it's so easy to play the armchair coach, I guess, or armchair quarterback, or whatever you want to call it, to be able to say, "Oh, yeah, you know, should have gotten this person, or you should have gotten that person, or you should have run the goalie."

How did you not see he was coming down there?

Well, you don't want to run the goalie.

I'm the goalie, please don't run me. We don't like that at all.

Well, that's why coaches have coaching jobs, and athletes are athletes, right?

Yeah.

They have a different perspective. You do your part, I'll do mine, and don't take the criticism personally, I guess, at the end of the day.

Yeah, that's ...

Well, and at the end of the day, Josh will not be retiring from para ice hockey, or will not be retiring from throwing, and Claire is on the Canadian National Women's Hockey Team, so I don't see you in your future, I'm getting my crystal ball out now, and I don't see you retiring anytime soon either, and-

2030 seems so far away, but I am going to try my best-

Seven years, seven years, you can do it.

To stick around and stay in one piece.

Seven years, it will go by, no problem whatsoever, so there you go. Saying that though, I think we are going to retire this episode of The Neutral Zone, and I'd like to thank Claire Buchanan, and Josh Watson for being on the show today. Our technical producer for this week is [inaudible 00:51:22], and our producer and regular host of the program that's going to be back next week from his honeymoon is Brock Richardson. I'm Cam Jenkins, and I hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you next week.