A LIFETIME of determination and refusal to give up has led to the Hawkesbury’s Colin Sieders living a remarkable life and qualifying for the Paralympic Games as a kayaker.
Sieders has had not one, but two, horrific car accidents, in his lifetime, which have left him with very limited ability to walk.
Yet, his arms and shoulders work just fine, and they have enabled him to qualify for the Australian KL1 kayak team, which will compete at Rio de Janeiro later this year.
The fact Sieders is able to use his arms at all could be considered a miracle, given the obscenely bad luck he has endured during his life.
I would be happy with a top five finish but I would love to bring home a medal.
- Colin Sieders
In 1997, on the way to soccer training, the car he was in, driven by his friend’s mother, hit black ice on a mountain road, and slide off, hitting a tree.
The 15-year-old Sieders was in a bad way after the accident and spent 51 weeks recovering in Nepean Hospital.
In a rather unenviable record to hold, Sieders required the most blood ever used to treat a patient after an accident.
He was meant to live life out in a vegetative state, or live permanently without the use of his legs, but, determined not to be overcome, he worked to repair his broken body and regained the ability to walk.
After the accident, Sieders took up motor racing alongside his brother David, who still races in the Australian V8 Ute Racing Series.
“I've never once really had a setback and thought ‘oh god what am I going to do’,” he said.
“Once I get a goal it is pretty much full on and get out of my way.”
Sieders made a fistful of racing, and was involved in many accidents.
“I barrel rolled an Aussie Racing Car around Eastern Creek 10 times at 200k an hour. I wrote off a supercar in a start accident,” he said.
After the first accident, I never once thought of I am never going to be able to do anything again. Once I woke up from hospital, it was a matter of what am I going to do now.
- Colin Sieders
Despite the dangerous nature of racing Sieders was able to emerge unharmed, however, off the track, when tragedy again struck.
A distracted truck driver on the wrong side of the road crashed into Sieders while he was driving one day in 2011.
The 1997 accident had damaged Sieders’ left leg, but this accident broke his pelvis and caused the most damage to his right leg.
Sieders said he was still able to walk, but the pain quickly becomes too much for him and he is essentially wheel chair bound.
“I can tolerate standing for about 10 minutes. I can walk but it is very limited,” he said.
“After those 10 minutes, my day is essentially done.”
The accident left him out of shape and wanting something to do to keep his weight under control.
“I had a personal trainer for when I was racing cars. When the car racing stopped I was wheelchair bound and put on about 20 kilos because I had a busted knee and leg,” he said.
“I've always had little goals I want to achieve. I've always found a way to do something. You can't let things hold you back.
“I got in contact with my trainer and said I needed to do some sport again.
“He was an ex-slalom paddler and one day he was doing a coaching clinic and it just so happened the other coach was part of the para-canoe team and they invited me over.”
It turned out to be a fruitful training session.
Sieders has been to four international championships with the team since he took up the sport, and now heads to Rio in September.
Sieders said the Australian team was number one in the world, and would head to Rio fully expecting to be on the podium.
“I would be happy with a top five finish but I would love to bring home a medal,” he said.
For most of the past two months, Sieders has been on the Gold Coast, training with the rest of his team to make sure they are in prime position to take out the gold medal.
“It is a pretty awesome feeling [to know I’ve qualified for the Paralympics]. It is very surreal,” he said.
“I found out in May [that I had qualified]. I was very elated, it was amazing.
“It still hasn't fully sunk in yet. When we got our first bit of gear that made it feel a bit more real, but for the time being I am still in the daily grind of training.”
Sieders said he was trying to raise some money to assist him with his training.
If you would like to lend Colin a helping hand you can visit https://asf.org.au/athlete/colin-sieders/.