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Wheelchair athlete climbs CN tower

By LUMA MUHTADIE

Globe and Mail

Thursday, September 26

Jeff Adams succeeded in his effort to climb all 1,776 steps of the CN tower in his wheelchair yesterday.

It was one of many barriers the six-time World 1,500-metre wheelchair champion has overcome in his 31-years.

Mr. Adams left the professional wheelchair racing circuit a year ago to train for the gruelling five-plus hour 113-storey climb. He also worked with the the Invacare Corporation, to design a lightweight miniaturized wheelchair with treaded tires that do not roll forward. With one arm supported by the railing and the other by a short crutch, Mr. Adams used his muscular upper body to lift himself backwards and stepwise up the world's tallest free-standing structure.

The belay system used by mountaineers provided safety, but without aiding the climb. A support team of three men positioned on the flights above him wore harnesses attached to ropes that clipped onto the back of the wheelchair. As Mr. Adams reached each successive flight, the ropes were refastened at higher levels.

When he finally reached the top, the Toronto man was greeted by a blitz of media, a crew from Ripley's Believe it or Not and his mother.

"I think this is wonderful," Rita Adams said with a smile. "But I've thought that about Jeff for a long time."

Mr. Adams said the climb couldn't have been better. "I trained so hard for this and we surprised ourselves.

Chuckling, he said the hardest part of the climb was the pacing: "I promised all you guys I would finish at four and we were so far ahead of schedule at half-way I had to slow myself down. That's so not what I do when I'm racing." But Mr. Adams said the day's feat was just the beginning of the real event. He raised more than $100,000 to launch a national School Outreach Program to raise awareness among grade-school students about the daily barriers faced by people with disabilities and to change existing perceptions and stereotypes.

Mr. Adams was nine years old when he was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare inflammatory disease affecting the nerves in his spinal chord and causing him to lose the use of his legs.

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