Parasports October 9, 2017
This vision impaired athlete aims to get more blind people running
Australian para-triathlete Casey Hyde is blind but that does not stop her. She runs, rides, and swims while linked to a trained guide who helps to keep her on track.
Casey is the first blind woman to complete the Ironman Western Australia, which is a tough challenge, and she aims to get more vision impaired people out in their running shoes.
She hopes to set an example and encourage the blind to walk, jog and run as exercise is a great way to cope with depression, anxiety and stress.
Casey has helped launch two new vision-impaired running groups in the city of Brisbane in Australia as part of an organization called Parkrun. This organization holds free timed runs every week for several million people in 15 countries around the world.
Casey says that one of the biggest challenges is that many blind people have never seen anyone running, and if you have not seen it, you cannot do it.
As part of the training, the running guides are also blindfolded when they run. So far, the response to Casey’s efforts has been quite good.
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