Every year, Gaylord Hospital hosts the Gaylord Gauntlet, a 5k run and obstacle course. The best part: it celebrates athletes who have overcome life-changing injuries.
Mud pits, walls, and a giant rock were three of the 24 obstacle courses runners tackled on Saturday. Among the participants were strong minds like Jay Ross from Plymouth.
"In 2018, I was in a motorcycle accident that got me paralyzed from the waist down," said Jay Ross, Gaylord Gauntlet's 2022 Feature Adaptive Athlete.
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Ross vividly remembers his first day at Gaylord Hospital. It was the same day as the Gaylord Gauntlet four years ago. It's a race he thought he would never be able to do.
"My nurse was like 'I could see you doing this next year.' And I was like 'no way. I can't even think about one day ahead of me, let alone next year," said Ross.
But he defied all odds and raced the following year. This time, he competes again against his good friend, Jillian Harpin, whose life changed six years ago.
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"I was on vacation with my three best friends in Mexico, and I went onto the balcony of my hotel room to make a phone call. I lost my balance as I went to sit on the railing and fell down three stories to the ground below," said Harpin.
Today, she's a fierce leader for the disabled community, regularly participating in adaptive sports, an employee of the company that made her wheelchair, and a frequent competitor in the Gaylord Gauntlet. Like Ross, she was also selected to be this year's Feature Adaptive Athlete.
Ross and Harpin's stories are ones of survival, strength, and perseverance. Running alongside them were some of their hospital staff; people who played an instrumental role in their recovery.
"I looked at this injury as an opportunity to kind of start over and form a new life for myself," said Harpin.
Ross says adaptive sports teaches him to embrace his injury and life from his chair. It also constantly shows him what is possible.
"It really helped me see that life goes on and I shouldn't hold myself back. If I want to do something, I should go for it," said Ross.
The money raised in Saturday's race will support the Gaylord Sports Association, Connecticut's largest adaptative sports program, which works to provide sports opportunities like skiing and archery to those with physical disabilities.
