Meet Danielle McLaughlin our SOAS team
member and Paratriathlon World Champion. A paratriathlete is a physically
challenged triathlete. Some are amputees, have paralysis, MS or any other type
of disability. They are classified by USAT and ITU and then placed in different
divisions. Danielle races as a TRI-5 which means she has a moderate leg
impairment.
Paratriathlon will make its debut at
the 2016 Paralympics. Right now the focus is on building the sport and trying
to recruit more paratriathletes. From Nationals in 2011 to Nationals this past
May, the numbers have doubled! It is a growing sport and each race gets more
competitive.
A bit about Danielle: She’s 25 and
originally from San Diego, CA. She attended UC Davis for college and currently
lives in Santa Monica, CA and works at the University of Southern California.
She’s a below-knee amputee and cancer survivor (and darn proud of it!). She is
the 2011 National and World Champion for her division. And that was her first
year racing! When not training, she is advocating for Young Adult Cancer
Survivors, hiking, traveling, or hanging out with friends. She loves traveling,
though and that has come in handy since traveling so frequently for triathlon!
Danielle lost her leg to synovial
sarcoma in August of 2004. “I was originally diagnosed in June 2003 and put
into remission but the cancer returned much more aggressively in late July and
we were forced to amputate. I was almost 18 and this was a week prior to the
beginning of my senior year of high school. I went from living an active
lifestyle to learning how to walk again. I missed sports a lot after the
amputation but did not know what was out there for amputees.”
She decided on racing her first
triathlon as a New Year's resolution. She had been spinning 5 -7 times a week
and was completely addicted/obsessed with it. She started running a bit because
it had always been a love of hers before the amputation. It was tough to run
because she was running on a walking prosthetic. “It only seemed natural to me
to do a triathlon if I was working at 2 out of the 3 sports! I did my first
triathlon in April 2011.” At that triathlon, she was approached by the
Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) to attend a paratriathlon camp in Pensacola, FL
put on by MultiSport Performance Institute. There, she was mentored by Amy
Dodson, another below-knee amputee who races triathlons. “I learned a lot about
racing and the abilities I had (learning to focus on what I COULD do rather
than what I couldn't do). And I was hooked!” Challenged Athletes Foundation
gave her a grant for a running prosthetic (some cost upwards of 20,000 dollars
and insurance does not cover them). She started working with a coach (Bernard
Baski, owner of TriFit Club & Studios) and bought a bike! “I haven't
stopped since!”
Danielle
recently took first in the TRI-5 division in Edmonton at the Inaugural PATCO
Paratriathlon Championships! Up next, hopefully a local race in Southern
California and then off to ITU Paratriathlon Worlds in Auckland, New Zealand in
October to defend her title.
