Local athlete taking speed to a new level

But for Orléans resident Kevin Frost – a 41-year-old legally deaf-blind athlete who’s won over 20 medals in short- and long-track speed skating – the transition from a sport he’s all but mastered to his newly-found passion of rowing is one that makes perfect sense.

“When you’re on the water, it gives you more freedom,” Frost describes, highlighting certain aspects shared by both activities, including use of leg strength, core muscles and application of even pressure. “You maximize your power and just go. It’s like being on top of the world.”

The path that led him to rowing was one of necessity. After half a decade on the ice – and with his vision continuing to slowly deteriorate – Frost’s sports psychologist suggested looking at other athletic pastimes to pursue as backup, he recounts.

Already Frost is excelling at his adopted sport of two years, performing with both able-bodied rowers and adaptive teams. He attended a Paralympics training camp in British Columbia, where he placed fourth in the time trial selection, and scored big in the Ottawa Recreational Regatta last month, placing first, second and third with teammates in three different categories.

“It was a good day,” Frost sums up. “I’ve progressed quite far in a short amount of time.”

With the help of his five volunteer coaches from the Ottawa Rowing Club, the east-end athlete’s next challenges will be the RCA Canadian Masters Championships in Guelph later this month, where he will compete in three races, and gearing up for the Paralympic World Cup next year.

“I like going to the limit – doing things people have never done before,” Frost says. “It’s a good lesson for everybody … be positive at all times. Every opportunity – just go with an open mind.”

Currently, Frost trains 10 hours a week on the water, and another six hours at the gym, pushing himself to perform but not overtaxing his body, he explains.

“To go early in the morning and do 10 to 15 kilometres, it takes a lot out of me,” Frost adds.

In comparison to a rower possessing all five senses, communication can sometimes be an issue throughout training, and balance – for someone experiencing problems with both hearing and eyesight – is often a challenge, he continues.

Those differences frequently appear in the way things are explained, says coach Laurel Clegg, who has worked with Frost since last summer via both an adult recreational league and adaptive rowing team.

“It’s not unlike normal coaching, but some things take longer,” she explains, since Frost is unable to employ visual cues, like using the horizon as a balance point. “(For someone like him,) you have to use all your other senses.”

Even as a new athlete to the sport, Frost’s level of physical fitness coming into the rowing world was a major help in terms of picking things up, Clegg continues.

“He learned very quickly,” she recounts. “He’s done extremely well.”

And though Frost’s list of rowing achievements thus far is impressive, Clegg says it’s his winning attitude that shines the brightest.

“He’s fearless, he really is,” she explains. “He’s overwhelmingly positive. It’s not an easy sport, and he’s coming into it late. He’s overcoming all these things, and he’s such a positive person to have around.”