Canadian Cup in Quebec City

View report here: http://www.radio-canada.ca/audio-video/pop.shtml#urlMedia=http://www.radio-canada.ca/Medianet/2011/CBVT/LeTelejournalQuebec201112041800.asx

Fast forward to video 3/4 to view just Kevin’s interview.

A powerful mission

Training is going well and on track for my next competition in Quebec on November 26. It will be long track speed skating. I have so much positive energy contributing to my training, all thanks to my remarkable trip to Cancun.

I had been planning this mission trip to Cancun for a while. Last year, I gave a set of hearing aids to Manuel. It is such an amazing feeling watching someone gain the gift of hearing, and hear the sounds of the world for the first time. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do it again. So this year, two sisters, one with Down syndrome and another who was hearing impaired, got the gift of hearing thanks to Widex, an international hearing aid supplier, and Davidson Hearing Aid Centre in Ottawa.

While I was there, the night before we started the mission, I did a presentation at the club we were staying at. We raised an extra $250 to stock the kitchen and get supplies for the villages. I want to thank everyone for being so generous that night.

We started the mission in a town called Holbox. We gave them some food and kitchen supplies. It was very touching experience meeting the villagers. Our visit was cut short when we had to evacuate the island due to hurricane Rina.

We continued our mission with a visit to Nevo Durango to fill their food bank kitchen. While I was there, I delivered a blind cane to an 80 year old woman who has been blind all her life. When I gave her the special blind cane, she was very touched and hugged me with joy and appreciation. A familiar way of showing one’s appreciation in these villages is by feeding you a feast. We ate a peculiar lunch, I wasn’t too sure what I was eating, but let me tell you… it was the best meal I had all week.

The last town we visited was called KM 80. I thought this was kind of a funny name for a town. We were introduced to the mayor of the town and then to the two sisters. This was the high point of the mission. Watching the girls put the hearing aids on and seeing their body language while they heard sounds for the first. It is a very powerful feeling that I will remember for a long time.

Again, hurricane Rina came through with 100 miles-an-hour winds and forced us to evacuate.

An amazing trip indeed. If you are interested in ever helping out children in Mexico and Nicaragua get the gift of sight, I try and do a trip once a year. If you are interested in helping out, please donate or contact Kristine Simpson with your ideas.

Resting Our Bodies Is Needed TO GO Forward

September was a month for resting, especially to ensure recovery of my groin injury. I used this time to give seven motivational talks across Ottawa.

Of course, I could relax too long, so I suck off to a great speed skating Camp in Milwaukee. There were 35 skaters from all over North America. We had the best coachs from the USA with us. We did 16 hours of ice trianing and 10 hours of dry land training. You know it was good when you leave stiff by the end of the week.

Now, I will start my toughest workouts. My winter goals will be to become 5th to 8th best in the able-bodied world and defend my parlaympic three-time top-title in Russia. I have a lot of work ahead of me to make this happen. I also will be training two times a week in track for my Parlaympic training for next season.

I still continue to try and help kids across the world hear. The two boys from Nicaragua are doing very well with their new hearing aids. And, I head off to Cancun to meet with Marie Carmen at the end of October to give her new hearing aids.

Thanks to everyone who continues to support me!

Sometimes setbacks can led to meeting great people

August was an interesting month. I did lots of Kayaking and trained hard for the ParaSports Games in Sarnia. After months of training, I was mentally focused and fit for the Sarnia Games.

But sometimes, you can be fit and ready yet still something goes wrong. I started the ParaSports Games with a 200m sprint. I had an awesome start but when I rounded the corner, I felt a pop in my groin and that was the end of my day for racing.

Sometimes setbacks can led to meeting great people. Being at the ParaSports Games gave the opportunity to meet lots of great athletes and coaches from all over. I even met lots of people from the Blind Sports organization. If I weren’t for my surprise injury I wouldn’t have met these wonderful people.

I now will take a month off to recover and get ready for the speed skating season.

Stay tuned!

Good news: two new pairs of hearing aids will be going to Nicaragua next month, two boys for the first time will have a normal hearing life. In Oct a girl will get a new set of hearing aids in Cancun. I have a few presentations coming up in the next few months.

Sometimes we have to make changes in our lives

June and July have been a wonderful change in my sporting journey. I have switched from Rowing to Track and Field. Since I have been training in track, I have learnt that there is major change in muscle groups that I use when I train. Speed skating uses my hip flexors muscle. Track is all hamstrings. I actual trained too fast at the beginning and had to rest, due to a lower hamstring pull. Training with the Paralympic Team has been a great experience and I have made great new friends.

Last week, I  sucessfully tested for the National Qualifying Times for the Paralympic standard. For the last two months I have been training on two specific diastances, and after the tryouts I felt I nailed it. I will be competing at the Ontario Paralympic Games in Sarnia in August. I hope to set two more National Standards. Today, I had a small injury on my calf doing uphill runs. I will take the necessary time to recover and get ready for the Paralympic Games.

Currently, I am working on getting hearing aids for three children. Two in are in Nicaragua and one is in Mexico. I hope to have this mission done by October.

I hope you all are having a great summer.

Hard Work and Training Paid Off

March and April were my hardest months of training ever. I was doing double workouts as ordered by my coach.

At the end of April I headed to Russia to participate in the Russia Open Blind Cup. (check out the coverage: Orleans Star). This was my second round at the Open Blind Cup in Russia. Last time I finished on top and becoming the world’s number one blind speed skater. This year, I defended my title and I am still number one.

I enjoyed the trip. We were treated like kings. I had five course meals everyday (something new for me). We went to the Opera, horse back riding, a rock concert and toured the city. The Russian ladies who were our translators were very helpful when trying to communicate with skaters and officials. We got a Russian sauna treatment by the Russian coach Nikolay, he is the coach who invited me to the competition.

My results were very good, winning 5 golds and setting 3 world records. However, my coach still feels I have more to give, only time can tell. I plan on training harder for next years Open Blind Cup in Russia.

My funniest experience was when I got my gold medal. The official asked me to step up on the highest podium. I kind of ripped my pants as I was stepping up, but no one noticed, thank god!!!

I will now take a short break and do a few presentations. In two weeks I will start training for Track & Field as well as Kayaking. I also will be helping three children get new hearing aids.

KF

News from Russia

To all my friends and supporters:

Things are going well here in Russia. I have done a few training sessions to prepare myself for the Russia Open Blind Cup. So far, the ice conditions have been great for training and I have also enjoyed some good off-ice training.

Yesterday I was invited to a blind school to do a presentation. It went very well. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) gave me five walking white canes for children in Russia suffering from a vision impairment. Five lucky children had the opportunity to use a cane for the first time in their life. Their facial expression of joy and happiness was priceless.

I enjoyed talking to this amazing group. I also enjoyed listening to my speach in a nother language as translators translated my every word in Russian. I hope I have given all these young children a new dream to strive for the very best in life. It was a very touching experience.

Among the site seeing I managed to make a new friend, a very fluffy friend, his name is Canada. Canada is a cat that meets me every time I go to the front office at my hotel.

Thank you to all who have supported my to come to Russia, especially my new sponsor KTL Group.

Until the next update!

A rewarding feeling

This month has been full of hard work with rewarding outcomes. I went to Boston to partake in the Indoor World Rowing Championships, called C.R.A.S.H B. Last year, I finished second in the World. This year, I was even closer to a first place victory, but came 10 seconds short. However, I am still pleased to say I won second place with .001 hundredths away from first place. Next year, I will have to train just a little harder and hopefully I can come back with a bigger victory. Needless to say, It was a lot of fun and I met many wonderful Paralympic rowers.

From February 22 to 26, I attended the 20^th Master Worlds Championships in Calgary against able-bodied skaters. I managed to pull off a new personal best record in all my race distances. Going in to the competition I was ranked 18^th in the World. Today, I am now ranked 10^th in the World. I was very satisfied with my performance. I also set a 5000m Parlalympic record of 8:19:00. That is the magic number that I plan on beating at the Open Blind Cup in Russia from April 12 to 16, 2011.

Wish me all luck while I will continue to train hard for the Open Blind Cup in Russia in April.

And I hope to have some great news for Marie Carmen next month.

KF

“High and Tough Changes but keep training hard”

The Frost Fest concert was a hit. I have to thank Andrew Machwen, Rob Jenson and Mike Murphy for all their hard work. Also, thanks to all the sponsors who donated their items to make this event such a great success.

I had a great speed skating meet in Lake Placid in January. I won a gold medal. You can read all about my Gold medal win in a release written by Kristine Simpson. I also won a bronze medal at the International Canadian Championships in Halifax against able-bodied skaters. You can read more about my Bronze medal win too in a release written by Kristine Simpson.

Now I am training mentally and physically for the World Cup at the end of February. Apart from a slight back injury and with the help of my sport trainers and chiropractor, I am back and ready to make waves happen.

I also was invited to the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston. More updates to come.

I have been training hard and it is paying off. It is hard sometimes mentally, but I know I can’t give up. I just recieved the word to attend the Open Blind World Championships in Russia. I hope to defend my title.

Marie Carmen, our little angle in Cancun will be getting her hearing aids as soon at I have enough funds raised. We are 75% there. If you are interested in donating visit my donation page.

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Kevinspeedskate