[September 26, 2010] Challenges overcome Tweet Sep 26, 2010 (The Augusta Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- David Bigoney remembers his first triathlon, in 2001. "Coming out of the swim, I was so exhausted. We got to the bike -- I thought my rear end was going to fall off halfway through the bike course. We hit the run; I probably stopped five or six times to stretch because of cramps, or because I was just worn out," said Bigoney, who finished 10 triathlons that season. "People came up to me and said, 'You're pretty inspirational.' I didn't get it. Inspirational? Hell, I'm just trying to get across the finish line. It didn't occur to me until a few triathlons later. It really was inspirational. It let people see there's a blind guy out there who can't see, who's doing triathlons." Bigoney hasn't been able to see since 1996, when he was shot in the head in a domestic violence incident that left his father dead. Today, he and a half-dozen other visually impaired veterans -- Bigoney is a Navy vet -- will compete in the second-annual ESi Ironman 70.3 Augusta, each with a fellow sighted triathlete by his or her side, serving as a guide. Bigoney said when he decided to attempt triathlons in 2000, he knew of only three blind triathletes. Today he estimates that there are about 100, including Persian Gulf War and Operation Enduring Freedom veteran Dexter Durrante. Durrante, a retired Army master sergeant, said he also hadn't considered the triathlon until after he lost his sight in a demolitions training mishap at Fort Bragg just three years ago. The next year, Durrante spent seven months in Augusta at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center's rehabilitation center. "Before I went there, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I could see for 38 years, then all of the sudden it was gone. The support, it opened my eyes. There's a lot more to this blindness than just sitting around," he said. The next September, Durrante competed in the 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run portions of the Augusta Ironman. This year, he adds the 1.2-mile swim. "It's the invisible man syndrome. We're there, but we're not really there. A parent may not have hope, but seeing us out there doing triathlons, riding the bike and swimming and doing different things, it's inspiring for the parents to put that child out there and see what they can do," Durrante said. Connected with sighted triathlete guides through the organization cdifferent.org, Bigoney and Durrante and about a half-dozen other blind veterans join more than 3,000 participants in today's event. "It takes a lot of work to be a guide, and for it to work it takes three main things, communication between the athlete and guide, teamwork and trust," Bigoney said. In the run and swim segments, the visually impaired athlete and guide are connected by a short tether. In the bike ride, they ride a tandem bicycle. Former Green Beret Gil Magallanes competes today in his triathlon. Magallanes was blinded in 2001 when a 2,000-pound bomb fell on his unit as it escorted Afghan President Hamid Karzai through Afghanistan. Also competing today are a dozen or so adaptive athletes, using hand cycles or other adaptive devices or as part of a relay team, including several adaptive/ able-bodied relay teams trained by Champions Made From Adversity, an Evans organization. Blind, adaptive or perfectly able-bodied triathletes seem to share a common sentiment about the grueling, long-distance triathlon -- that the best part is the finish line. "There's always at least one person out there that will come up to you after the race -- there's at least one person that you really connect with and they tell you what you are doing is fantastic, and you can hear in their heart the words," Bigoney said. "It's the connection, what I hear from people is how much it makes them feel alive. They see me as a person with a disability not letting it get in my way." To see more of The Augusta Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://augustachronicle.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Augusta Chronicle, Ga. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544). [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]