Dubai: A marathon is all about test of endurance and determination. It’s not runners alone who vie for glory, but also those for whom fate dealt a different hand. Canadian wheelchair athlete Josh Cassidy — the fastest wheelchair racer anywhere in the world — is one such diehard spirit, and he’s here to push the limits.
Cassidy was diagnosed with cancer in the spine and abdomen weeks after birth. Though he was given a low chance of survival he managed to recover after five years of cancer remission. The disease however left his legs partially paralysed. The tale of Cassidy is an inspiring one indeed.
Oldest of the ten children, he fought his way to international fame through wheelchair competitions. He set a world record time of 1h:18m:25sec in the 2012 Boston Marathon — the fastest wheelchair marathon time ever recorded — and is aiming to dethrone Dubai Marathon defending champion JohnBoy Smith tomorrow (Friday).
“Being in a wheelchair and having cancer was the best thing that could have happened to me. I don’t think I wished I could walk because it taught me many things, it taught me how to adapt and to get what I want out of life. From a very early age I learnt how to overcome obstacles and the first step was physical obstacles like climbing stairs and then I started applying it to school to sports ... to everything and I proved if you believe in yourself and if you work hard and put in the time you can achieve whatever you want.”
Cassidy comes across as not only a great sportsman but also a thinker. When asked what he does to be faster,” he said: “The longer you participate in the sport the challenges _ those things to make you faster, they always become smaller. So you will always be looking at everything to become faster. At this stage I have so much experience and it’s about doing all together, it is the body, mind, soul, nutrition, environment, training and coaching, all of these coming together.”
Cassidy enjoys everything that he does. “I applied everything entirely to sport when I realised sports is like a microcosm of life. It voluntarily puts you in front of obstacles to be able to push yourself harder to be better and also fail because when you fail you learn and you grow from there. And that’s what really helped me.”
Cassidy revealed that wheelchair competition standards have increased over the years. “The level of competition has increased so much in the sport during the last few years. You have the first place to seventh place maybe three seconds apart after 42km in the last couple of years. The competition is just crazy,” said Cassidy who is here from his hometown’s cold winter.
“This is [my] first time in a marathon here. I entered only a month ago as it wasn’t part of my original plans as back home in Canada it was a very cold winter and so I had been training indoors. My training went well and I am here to do well.”
