He was born with no arms and no legs. Yet this hasn’t stopped him from pursuing an active lifestyle.
Meet Chris Koch from Canada – an adaptive athlete, farmer, motivational speaker and world traveller who lives by the motto “If I Can.”
SCSM finisher!
Recently Chris made his debut in the StanChart Singapore Marathon, participating in both the half and full marathon categories at this year’s event. Using his longboard as his main mobility device, Chris is a marathon veteran, having completed more than 20 marathons to date, including New York and Chicago.
Says Chris, “Years ago, I started using the longboard as my primary mobility. It opened up so many opportunities. I was able to go farther, faster, it was way easier than on artificial legs. I got to the point where I wanted to see if I could board 50 miles in one day. Soon the opportunity to do a marathon came up.”
Chris added, “I don’t do things recklessly. I know my capabilities. I talked to the Calgary Marathon here in Canada and they said yeah no problem, we’d love to have you. So that was my first marathon and I got hooked.”
The Singapore half and full double came about because the marathon organisers had planted the seed in his head.
Said Chris, “So when I do a marathon, I have to ask for special permission from the organiser. I’m still the only person to my knowledge doing marathons on a longboard and missing arms and legs.”
Chris and girlfriend at the start of the half
He added, “The Singapore organiser got back to me and they asked me whether I would be interested in doing the half and full double-up challenge. When people throw challenges out to me like that, I’m like, yeah why not? Sure. I wish I had a more epic story than that, maybe I should have made something up!”
The two races did have their challenges along the way though, such as battling the Singapore heat, starting the race in darkness, and weaving in and out of people along the course. Something even fell out of a tree and got stuck in the wheel of his longboard.
KLSCM
KLSCM
Said Chris, “I only know it was dark and something got caught up in my wheel and came off me, it actually cut up my arm pretty bad. I had to go to one of the medic tents and get a bandage for it. Someone could have rolled their ankle on that thing and got injured so I’m glad it happened to me on the board and not to somebody else.”
Philadelphia Marathon
SCSM expo
It was interesting and inspirational chatting to Chris about his marathons and about how he’s always up for a new adventure, with the Comrades (Ultra)Marathon and the Antarctic Ice Marathon as bucket-list challenges for him.
But for next year, Chris is hoping to participate in the Berlin Marathon, which will be his third Abbott’s World Marathon Majors event after Chicago and New York City.
All images are from Chris Koch’s Instagram account @ifican_chriskoch.
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