Athletes Stories

Robyn Benincasa Hip Resurfacing

Link http://www.thenewstribune.com/tacoma/24hour/consumer/outdoors/story/811676.html

competed in close to 40 expedition-length events - gnarly, multiday, multisport killers such as Primal Quest and Eco-Challenge. She has biked through jungles in Borneo, climbed Himalayan giants in Nepal, trekked across lava fields in Fiji, rafted rapids in Chile - and racked up multiple world championship titles along the way. In her spare time, Robyn, 42, is a full-time firefighter in San Diego, on the nation's first all-female crew. She previously competed in college-level diving and gymnastics and raced six Ironman triathlons.

Robyn might know better than anyone how to push through sore muscles and achy joints...

Adventure Racing World Championships in Scotland in 2007, Robyn was hit with sudden pain in her hips so severe she almost couldn't finish the race. She had entered the competition with her team as a favorite but wound up barely able to make it across the finish line. She literally picked up each leg and placed it in front of her, dragging herself up the last few mountains of the course. Back home, doctors diagnosed Robyn with osteoarthritis and proclaimed her days of professional racing over.

In her 15-year career as a professional adventure racer, Robyn Benincasa has competed in close to 40 expedition-length events - gnarly, multiday, multisport killers such as Primal Quest and Eco-Challenge. She has biked through jungles in Borneo, climbed Himalayan giants in Nepal, trekked across lava fields in Fiji, rafted rapids in Chile - and racked up multiple world championship titles along the way. In her spare time, Robyn, 42, is a full-time firefighter in San Diego, on the nation's first all-female crew. She previously competed in college-level diving and gymnastics and raced six Ironman triathlons.

Robyn might know better than anyone how to push through sore muscles and achy joints...

But at the Adventure Racing World Championships in Scotland in 2007, Robyn was hit with sudden pain in her hips so severe she almost couldn't finish the race. She had entered the competition with her team as a favorite but wound up barely able to make it across the finish line. She literally picked up each leg and placed it in front of her, dragging herself up the last few mountains of the course. Back home, doctors diagnosed Robyn with osteoarthritis and proclaimed her days of professional racing over.

She was crushed. But her competitive spirit wasn't quiet for long. In fact, Robyn's love of adventure racing is what kept her afloat through the difficult time after her diagnosis. Competing again, "is the mental carrot I dangled in front of myself to get well," she says.

Soon after, Robyn founded the Project Athena Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women who've endured medical setbacks achieve their athletic dreams, whether it means climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or running a local 10K. The goal? To encourage survivors not just to survive - but to thrive in the wake of their diagnoses...

...Robyn, however, is back in full competition mode. After successful hip-resurfacing surgery in 2007, she has recovered and returned full force to the sport she loves. This month she'll lead Team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure at Primal Quest Badlands, a 600-mile adventure race across the canyons, caves, and hills of South Dakota. She's in it to win it, of course, but now she has a new goal: raising awareness for the Project Athena Foundation - and showing other survivors that medical setbacks don't mean the end of athletic goals. Sometimes, in fact, they can lead to better things.

Track Robyn's progress August 14-23 at www.ecoprimalquest.com

Beale beats off adversity to become first female 'master' in the UK
Monday, 06 July 2009

Adversity has been well and truly overcome by Sandra Beale, the National Association of Karate and Martial Art Schools' (NAKMAS National Governing Body) director of operations, who has just become the first woman in the UK to achieve Shihan (master) status in Tsuyoi Ryu Karate.

Sandra, 41, achieved 5th Dan karate grade within Tsuyoi Ryu which has been part of the UK and international martial arts scene since 1977. Sandra achieved this colossal feat despite suffering two bouts of cancer during her life, and in addition to her tireless 17 years work with NAKMAS National Governing Body.
 

Sandra said: "It is a great honour to achieve my 5th Dan. I could never have imagined achieving this level. Without the support of my husband and the constant dedication and loyalty of my students, I wouldn't have reached this stage."

Sandra was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Ewings Sarcoma, when she was nine years-old and was told she had a fifty-fifty chance of survival. After surgery, radiotherapy and two years of chemotherapy she survived, but the extensive treatment caused other illnesses, including damage to the heart.

As Sandra grew older, she developed skin cancer, and recently needed hip resurfacing. Undeterred, Sandra aimed high within karate and became instrumental in reshaping the NAKMAS National Governing Body, being the driving force behind securing NAKMAS the Equality Standard in Sport accreditation and the International Quality Management Standard (BS EN ISO 9000).

Richard Fowler, Deputy Chair of NAKMAS National Governing Body, says:

"Not only is Sandra a valuable asset to the NAKMAS team, she is also an inspiration to others faced with adversity, a role model for other women and an example of someone who commits themselves to overcoming any challenge.

"To become the first woman Shihan is testament to Sandra's determination and, add to that what she has achieved for NAKMAS, illustrates her importance to the martial arts in the UK. NAKMAS has taken giant leaps in developing a nationwide strategy for martial arts, and Sandra can take a lot of the credit for being one of the architects of that progress."

Sandra has been practising karate for 18 years. As well as being the national director of operations to NAKMAS she is the joint chief instructor to the Kent Karate Schools (www.kentkarateschools.co.uk), teaching her classes in Ashford and Canterbury, specialising in teaching children, including those with Asperger Syndrome and those with other special needs.

Away from her many martial arts commitments, Sandra's true passion is dance and she has competed in professional dance competitions since she was four years-old. She continues to dance, practising and teaching alongside her father, Alan Beale.

Sandra is also an academic and attained a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Kent. She is about to commence study for a Doctorate in Education at the Sheffield Hallam University, specialising in autism within sport and physical activity.

 

Landis to Return to Cycling

January 22, 2009

Link  http://www.nbcchicago.com/sports/more/Landis-to-Return-to-Cycling.html

Floyd Landis is coming back to cycling, and says his sport will be better for it.

Landis' feel-good story came to halt when he was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory following a doping scandal and protracted fight in courts around the world. He said Thursday he feels "like a kid again" knowing that his two-year ban from cycling will end next week.

"In my mind, it's already behind me," Landis said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm not dwelling on that at all."

Landis was barred for using synthetic testosterone in the latter stages of cycling's showcase race three years ago. He contends the testing system is flawed, but he has no means left to fight other than to resume racing.

The Murrieta, CA resident trained in San Diego and is returning to the county in his return to the sport.

He will ride for the OUCH cycling team and debut at the Tour of California next month, starting what he plans to be at least two years with OUCH, which opens its training camp Friday.

"This isn't some kind of statement to shut down the critics or any kind of changing-the-world project of mine," Landis said. "This is me doing what I've trained myself to do for the last 15 years, and I hope that the people that follow bike racing get a better show than what they've had the last couple years."

His return comes on the heels of seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong resuming his own racing career. Armstrong is currently in Australia at the Tour Down Under, his first competitive race in three years. They'll be linked at the Tour of California, which Armstrong is planning to make his next race -- and cable channel Versus said Thursday it will show all nine days of that event..

...Landis says he feels as good as ever, in large part because his right hip is now pain-free. He underwent hip resurfacing surgery two years ago, relieving the bone-on-bone pain that plagued him for years, even during that 2006 Tour.

OUCH is sponsored by Dr. Brent Kay, a devout cycling enthusiast from California who has worked on Landis' hip for many years and is a close friend of the rider.

He said when the opportunity came to sign Landis, he didn't hesitate for one second...

Link  http://www.star-telegram.com/376/story/822867.html

By RICKY TREON

Calf roping is no longer a young man's sport for Jeff Copenhaver.

It was, back when he was 9 and dreamed of being a world champion. Back when he went to his first national finals 13 years later, and when he competed in that prestigious event for the last time at 29.

But now, at 59 years young, Copenhaver has decided to return to calf roping competition, something he thought he'd given up long ago.

Copenhaver, who runs the Cowboy Church at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth and also works with kids, did win that world championship in 1975 and he continued to be one of calf roping's premier competitors and teachers for two more decades.

It seemed age had finally caught up with Copenhaver in 1995, when it became too painful to mount a horse. And at the time, not being able to practice calf roping in any capacity was something he could deal with.

"I really didn't think I had any more desire to do it," he said of the skill that he'd nearly perfected throughout his life. "I was just minding my own business in 2006. And then, bam, the desire came back."

Copenhaver said that desire was subtle at first. But in October 2006, he scheduled a double-hip resurfacing, a new procedure that allows less bone removal and more mobility than a total hip replacement. The hope was to eliminate the pain and regain the abilities he thought he'd lost forever.

Turns out he had to wait until the following August to finally have his surgery done by Dr. Theodore Crofford at Fort Worth's Texas Hip and Knee Center.

It was tough, waiting all that time, he said.

Copenhaver hasn't had any complications after the surgery last Aug. 27 and said he's feeling better physically than he did at age 36 when he'd last sat in a saddle.

"They know so much more about the body and how it works nowadays," Copenhaver said. "I'm just way more fit."

So fit that he wants to start competing again. Though it sounds like a pipe dream, Copenhaver is doing everything he can to make sure he doesn't end this comeback disappointed or hurt.

Riding a horse and roping a calf is hardly like riding a bike.

"It's going to take a certain length of time to get riding again with an edge," he said. "The hip is just now, at 11 1/2 months, starting to feel strong again"...
 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080715/news_1c15alivem.html

July 15, 2008 SAN DIEGO ALIVE

With more people in their 40s and early 50s being sidelined by severe osteoarthritis, a new technology – hip resurfacing as an alternative to hip replacement – is giving baby boomers a chance to stay active longer.