August 26, 2008 – Well, it wasn’t a club I ever aspired to be a member of but after the accident, there I was – a disabled athlete. Well, maybe not an athlete right away – that would come. I was injured in November, 2006 in a cycling accident – let’s just say the car won and my right arm lost. I was a runner and tri-athlete and I had done some cross country ski racing but I thought that maybe those days were over and I would become a #1 spectator. So that’s what I did at the end of that first winter….. but I just got too cold. I knew I would have to get out and ski again.

In the fall of 2007 I contacted CCC asking for information about skiing with one pole. I hadn’t heard of ‘para-nordic’ skiing but I figured there had to be someone out there who was skiing the way I would have to, and if there was, CCC would know about them. I wanted to race again against the same women I always had – no aspirations of winning – I just wanted to be in the game, but I wanted to do it as efficiently as possible. I was immediately welcomed and introduced to Para-Nordic coaches and athletes. How exciting to be able to talk to someone ‘just like me’ and to learn that my disability would affect my race time (in a positive way!). So I set a goal of doing most of our local races and all the BC Cup races in the 2008 season. (I also decided I would try to join the 1000km club – we have a mileage chart in our lodge and if you ski 1000km in one season, you get the coveted 1000km club t-shirt. I didn’t tell anyone at first though – 1000km with one pole? – maybe too crazy.) But I love working towards goals.

I started skiing as soon as I could on our local trails and it was….. not pretty. My balance was off and the poling seemed to shoot me over to the side where I had no pole. I also didn’t want to fall and hurt myself. And I thought – really, I look a little silly – people are going to stare at me. And people did stare – but they also offered advice and words of encouragement. So I persevered. And it got a little better. And I only had a couple of really bad falls (and lived).

My first race was the end of December and I came…. last. Not that I thought I wouldn’t. But more important, I had so much fun and I felt normal. I was out there racing just like everybody else – pushing hard and giving my all. I relished the ‘I think I’m going to throw up’ feeling in the middle of the race, the joy of seeing the finish line, the camaraderie of exhausted athletes after the race. It was great – and I got to do it again the next weekend – at BC Cup #1 (where I didn’t come last!).

(The volunteers at races are wonderful people, and the first thing they think when they see a skier with one pole is that the skier broke the other one. I have been offered more poles during races this year….thank you! ….. But I just can’t use the other one.)

At BC Cup #2 and the BC Championships, I met some Para-Nordic coaches and athletes. Talk about a great group of people – encouraging and helpful, interesting and committed as athletes. I felt immediately embraced by this group. My races went well and I found out I could race at Nationals that March. Amazing. What a crazy opportunity. I trained really hard and watched what I ate – I even cut back on chocolate (sometimes you have to make these sacrifices…). Nationals was the biggest ski event I had been to…. I wondered if I should be there but I had done my training and I wanted to see where that put me. Besides the other Canadian Para-Nordic athletes, there was a woman from Japan there who raced in my category at World Cup races. I was intimidated but pumped. Conditions were challenging but again, I went out and raced hard, and had a great time.

A couple of months after my accident, a surgeon told me I would never swim or bike again (I can now do both). I’m sure he would have been happy to tell me I couldn’t ski either. If I had listened to him, I wonder where I would be now. Likely not leading the healthy lifestyle that sport and skiing give me. I think other disabled athletes have experienced this as well – having limitations imposed on them. But none of us – disabled or able-bodied – should ever let someone else tell us what our limitations are. We all need to go out and live life as fully as we possibly can. A message of ‘Yes you can’ is a better one.

Because if you keep moving, you never know where you’ll end up……. I’m writing this at the Snow Farm in New Zealand. (And I made the 1000km club.)

Jody Barber is a member of the Para-Nordic Senior Development Team and is training with some of the PNST members in New Zealand currently. She wanted to add this to her Haywood Report: “and for the record, I was just trying to get CLOSE to the sheep!”