Posted: June 13, 2005

Athletics: Wheelchair racer Smith battles back from injury

Ottawa – Kelly Smith won a silver medal last September in Athens. Now he’s trying to climb back onto the international stage.

Smith, one of Canada’s premier long distance wheelchair racers, was forced to miss this year’s Boston marathon and will start his 2005 season late due to a torn ligament in his forearm. Along with his Paralympic silver medal, Smith achieved three personal best times last year. He finished a solid fourth in the 2004 Boston marathon with a time of 1:24.04, his best ever marathon time. This year, fourth place in Boston was taken by Alan Bergman, a good friend of Smith’s who finished 13th in the marathon in Athens.

Smith’s last competitive race was in November at the New York marathon. Following his injury, he spent the entire winter working towards rehabilitating the ligament and the muscles that were affected. A forearm injury would not be that much of a concern for a runner, but for a wheelchair athlete it’s everything.

After five months of rehab and only three weeks of training, Smith was back on his racing wheels for the Vancouver Sun Run on April 17th.

Using the opportunity as strictly a strengthening exercise, Smith still managed to finish first on a drizzly wet day in Vancouver, posting a time of 22 minutes and 39 seconds over the 10 kilometre course.

“Really it was just a test of fitness for me,” says Smith. “Although I finished well above my course record time of 20:54, I felt very strong in coming back from my injury with only three weeks of training and five months of rehab and my last race being in New York in November.”

On Sunday May 1, both Smith and Bergman raced in the Vancouver marathon. The Vancouver course has been without a wheelchair division since Smith won the race back in 1997, but both men used the opportunity as a conditioning exercise and to test the course for the organizers to make recommendations for a wheelchair division in the near future.

“We both worked together in the beginning, pushing the pace to around a 29 kilometer per hour average at the half way mark,” says Smith about himself and Bergman. “Then we had to slow up as we began to overtake runners on the course. The last half of the marathon required that we use caution to avoid runners and our pace dropped considerably. About the 30 kilometre mark I noticed my forearm starting to tighten slightly, so I eased the pace for this as well. We eventually finished with a 1:38.00 time, about a 26 kilometre per hour average, which was considerably slower than our pace at the half way mark.”

Overall, Smith was happy with how he felt physically and how the race went.

“Despite the few barriers regarding the course, we are both optimistic in working with the Vancouver Marathon committee in cleaning up the course and making this a world class marathon for the wheelchair division. And despite my forearm tightening up in the last half of the race, I feel very confident about where my training is and I will continue rehab on my forearm to prepare for July fourth.”

July fourth is the date of the annual Peachtree 10 kilometre road race in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Smith has had success at the Peachtree event in the past. Since 2002, he has placed third twice and took second spot in 2003. Last year, he set a personal best time over 10 kilometres posting a mark of 18:43.22 and finishing third.

This year, Smith hopes to use the event as a tune up for the European Paralympic Championships in Espoo, Finland which will take place in August. By then, he should be ready to go hard for a full marathon distance.

Smith, 40, is a native of Texas, but has lived in British Columbia since 1976. The former pilot, who once was a member of Canada’s national ski team, now works at Bay Airport outside of Vancouver as an air traffic controller. He currently trains at the Pacific Sport Track and Field club and receives guidance from coach Peter Erikkson, who coaches many of Canada’s top Paralympic athletes, including Chantal Petitclerc.

For more on Kelly Smith and his battle back from injury, check out his website at www.wheel-power.com.