Reaching for the top: Area athletes set sights on 2028 Paralympics

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Terry Hoddinott received one of the biggest gifts he could ever ask for on his 60th birthday last year: joining Canada’s national paraclimbing roster.

Soon, the Londoner, his wife and another competitor from this area will fly to Innsbruck, Austria, for the Austrian Paraclimbing Championship International.

“It’s a big one and a very stiff competition for sure,” Hoddinott said.

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Paraclimbing is competitive rock climbing indoors and outdoors for people with missing limbs, blindness, paralysis or other physical limitations.

Hoddinott, who lost his vision to retinoblastoma, a cancer that usually develops in early childhood, has been blind since age three.

He and his wife and fellow climber Patti compete as a team. She is a “caller,” responsible for giving Hoddinott instructions via a two-way headset as he climbs.

“We’re considered one unit,” he said. The couple started climbing five years ago and competed professionally for more than a year.

At competitions, Hoddinott and Patti are allowed to study the climb for six minutes, then go into isolation to give him co-ordinates before climbing.

“So she’ll be calling all four of my limbs at once. It’s a lot of skill for her to call. So, she’s actually a better climber than I am,” he said.

The Hoddinotts placed fourth at their first competition at the Para Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2023. The duo also won silver at the U.S. Nationals in Maryland in March.

But there’s another competition Hoddinott is looking forward to in his short but successful journey as an athlete, and Patti is definitely coming along.

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If approved by the International Paralympic Committee, paraclimbing could make its debut at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028.

“It’s kind of crazy, because it’s four years of very hard training, but an opportunity we can’t pass up, so I’m definitely trying for the team,” he said.

It’s an opportunity paraclimber Jeremy Ritchie, 37, of Strathroy also hopes to seize.

The idea of becoming a paralympian is amazing, he said.

“Our federation is still pretty young, so our support levels are not high right now. So we get athlete licences, administration fees, and stuff for competitions covered, but everything else is people helping us out,” he said.

Ritchie, who’s also joining the Hoddinotts in Austria, hopes to place in the top 10 in a very “stacked” category.

“I’m feeling pretty good. Training’s been going pretty well,” he said.

Ritchie lost his left lower leg after a lawn mower accident when he was a child and has been climbing for more than 10 years.

He got his start at a climbing wall at London’s Fleetway entertainment centre, and, while considering it recreational, practised as much as possible.

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He was one of the first to join the official Canadian paraclimbing team and attended his first competition, a world cup, in Los Angeles, Calif, in 2021.

“My expectations are just to try to climb as hard as I possibly can,” Ritchie said. “I just don’t want to come off the wall before my arms give out.”

To support paraclimbing athletes, choose to direct funds to CEC Team Canada Paraclimbing at Climbing Escalade Canada’s website at climbingcanada.ca/donate,

bbaleeiro@postmedia.com

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