Brain injury victim slays obstacles in warrior event
David Trotter suffers daily epileptic seizures, struggles to lift himself out of bed and gets around in a wheelchair.
But he hasn’t let those obstacles get in the way of taking part in a rugged event full of obstacles, Nelson’s Wairua Warrior.
For the third year in a row, David lined up with other competitors at Happy Valley Adventures on Saturday to take on the test of strength, endurance, and mental attitude.
The Wairua Warrior course includes balance beams, sand bag carries, barbed wire crawling and wall climbs.
To most able-bodied people, it’s a hard slog.
For David it’s an extraordinary effort.
He was in an accident in 1989 when he was 17, which left him with a brain injury, wheelchair bound and partly paralysed down his right side.
His mum, Barbara Trotter said his determination to participate was sparked four years ago when he was on the sideline at the event.
‘‘They had an A-frame at the end and David wanted to climb it ... so we talked to Greg and he said, ‘‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll sort it when we go to the gym.’’
Wairua Fitness trainer, friend and event director Greg Witika has been training David at the gym for 10 years every week.
David can now pull 13kg weights and carry 20kgs with one hand.
Witika said David had an ‘‘amazing story’’. Things like getting out of bed were an obstacle to him, he said. ‘‘It makes us look at ourselves. ‘‘He’d get up around this if he could, and he tries everything.
‘‘So that’s a challenge we lay out for him every year and he never ceases to amaze. ‘‘He loves this.’’ David gets around the course with the help of Team David, starting out in his all-terrain wheelchair before being pushed, pulled and guided through each station with the help of three friends.
Brain Injury Association liaison officer Fiona Price said David was a motivator for ablebodied people, ‘‘but there’s the other side too’’.
‘‘David’s an ambassador for people with brain injury who also see him doing stuff – that’s huge. It’s really good he can motivate both [groups].’’
The course saw 500 competitors push themselves over 6km or 12km , through the varied terrain of Happy Valley Adventures.
Individuals and teams competed against all fitness levels, including a competitor from TVNZ’s Australian Spartan, people with prosthetic legs, stroke victims, gym enthusiasts and those in it for a bit of fun.
Witika said the course was used as ‘‘a metaphor for life’’.
‘‘We face obstacles day in day out, a lot of them are emotional, they don’t have to be physical, but the way we deal with them is the same. We need to stop, we need to take a breath and we need to take a step back and take a look at everything.’’
First to finish the 6km elite course was Kim Hogarth who completed it in 70 minutes.
He said the toughest part of the course was belting out 30 burpees for not completing a station.
Ethan Halliwell was the first to complete the 12km elite track, in 93 minutes.