Gaston Bédard’s race will be a ‘team effort’
Deaf and blind marathoner will run with the help of three fellow racers
For Gaston Bédard, who is both deaf and blind, running in his first marathon in 30 years will be a team effort.
The 61-year-old from Aylmer, Que., is aiming to complete the race in under the five hours to qualify for the Boston Marathon, a dream that has eluded him for three decades.
“I was totally sighted before; it’s a whole different ball game now,” said Bédard, who suffers from Usher syndrome, a genetic condition that affects hearing and vision.
Bédard was one of many of runners at a news conference Friday at the Ottawa Convention Centre to kick off race weekend and the marathon’s 40th anniversary.
Hélène Tremblay-Allen, Pierluc Séguin and Neil Cachero form the team that will be Bédard’s eyes and ears. They hold on to a tether — a plastic tube with foam grips — that Bédard holds in his left hand and one of his guides holds in their right hand as he runs.
The three guides, who plan to switch in and out every five kilometres during the race, work in tandem with Bédard to help him stay on course by pushing or pulling on the tether. They can also sign information to him by touching his hand to let him knows how far he has run and his pace.
Bédard said the connection he discovered with the trio was instant and he has put his trust in them to help guide him to the finish line. Without them, Bédard admits, he would be stuck inside a gym.
In 2002, when Bédard’s eyesight had become very blurry, he stopped running. Losing his freedom to run, he said, was what stung the most.
“I love to run. Running was my freedom, stepping outside and just go, go, go, go for two or three hours,” Bédard said. “Suddenly, you just lose that freedom and you can’t do what you love to do, and you have to live that way.”
To prepare for the race, Bédard said he ran a few five- and 10-kilometre races, two half marathons, and embarked on several long runs. Tremblay-Allen created a tactile map for Bédard and drove him along the route earlier in the week to give him an idea of how the course twists and turns.
Back when Bédard could still see, he said, was able to reel in runners in his sight and use them as motivation to overtake them during the race. Bédard’s guides point out that he now sees with his feet, using his sense of touch to feel the road as he runs. It’s an “internal rhythm” and confidence that he said he’s built over the years with steady training.
“It takes a lot of training to feel like you’re confident, you have to have that gut feeling,” he said
As Bédard laces up to run in his 15th marathon, the former elementary school teacher, one of roughly 7,000 people expected to compete in the race, said he hopes his marathon inspires others.
“If you have good people around you, it’s amazing what you can do,” he said.