New hips, age fail to rock top climber
Sefton Priestley thought receiving full hip replacements would spell an end to his competitive rock climbing.
The Christchurch man shattered that fear two weeks ago when he took on 20 competitors from across New Zealand in the National Lead Championships and won the open men’s section.
‘‘I knew it was a pretty long shot. I was definitely the oldest person in the competition by a fair way,’’ Priestley said.
‘‘In fact, one of the top young climbers who was on the podium with me . . . I think we figured out that the first time I won the national champs he wasn’t even born yet.’’
Priestley’s hip troubles were first noticed by a physiotherapist in 2007, but he managed another five years before the need for hip surgery became paramount.
‘‘I was in chronic pain and had very low mobility.
‘‘I guess the pain levels had been creeping up slowly over so many years and I’d been just progressively getting used to it. It was almost like it was having impact on the rest of my body.’’
In late 2012, he received his first hip replacement, followed up with his other hip six months later.
From about three months after his first surgery, Priestley tried climbing and putting weight on his new hip and eventually achieved a better range of motion with his prosthetic than he had previously.
‘‘After a while of climbing it actually made me realise I had the potential to maybe even climb at a higher level than I was beforehand, which was pretty exciting.
‘‘I’m definitely on the way . . . it definitely feels like I’m heading towards the potential to get right back up to that previous peak.’’
Having two children under 5 made training a little more difficult to fit in, but he still managed a couple of training sessions a week.
He hoped a business started with several others about a year ago, Uprising Boulder Gym, meant he could help get young climbers to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where rock climbing has been included as a sport. an