Finishing the course was harder than David Smith thought it was going to be.
It was difficult, but extremely satisfying.
He and seven of his good buddies on Team Smash were among the 675 people who braved the cool and wet elements Saturday morning to tackle the third annual Mudd, Sweat and Tears obstacle run.
Smith is unable to run and still has difficulty walking after suffering paralysis in a near-fatal highway accident five-and-a-half years ago. The 33-year-old has very little use of his left arm and his left ankle is held rigidly in place by a steel plate and brace to keep his foot from dropping, but that didn't stop him from climbing walls, dangling from rope ladders, crawling under barbed wire hazards and wading through waist-deep mud puddles to complete the eight-kilometre course at Otway Nordic Centre.
"It's horrible, but I love it," Smith said after he'd cleared four of the obstacles. "The challenge was a pain in the ass, a lot harder than I thought it was actually going to be. Climbing one-handed is rather difficult.
"I was hoping to do every obstacle, with the option of going around some of them, and then this thing would be doable. But I was told I would be subject to ridicule if I went around any. So my buddies were there to help me and push me a little bit."
Nothing was going to stand in his way of getting to the end for that finisher's medal. While on the cargo climb, a 20-foot tall A-frame covered in a rope ladder, team member Jenaie Friesen provided words of incentive as he started his climb.
"Don't worry Dave, I'll just smack you with your cane as you go up, for a little encouragement," she said.
Smith weighs about 250 pounds and it wasn't easy helping him clear some of the challenges but he and his friends seemed to be enjoying every minute of it.
"We've watched him get through a lot, two years ago he was in a power wheelchair and now he's in this event, it's pretty amazing," said Denis Friesen.
"It's awesome, we grew up playing football together and wrestling and it's good to see him coming out," said Dan McMurray. "He was a force to be reckoned with as a football player – intense, focused, a team leader, like he is now."
The two-vehicle accident happened the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2012 in slippery conditions on Highway 97, about 20 kilometres north of Quesnel. The impact of the head-on collision resulted in Smith tearing through his seatbelt as he was ejected from the vehicle out the passenger-side door, which broke his neck in several places and left him with swelling on the brain. He suffered two strokes which left him without the use of limbs on his left side and he was kept in an induced coma for three weeks. When he woke up he was told he might never walk again. But he walked out of G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver and after two-and-a-half years in a wheelchair he's been walking with the use of a cane for the past year.
"I think it's amazing what he's done, it shows incredible drive and perseverance," said lifelong friend Wendy Hallum. "Dave has an amazing spirit and he has a great heart, he's a wonderful human being.
"When a friend told me about this and that it was for Dave, I was totally going to be there."
The Prince George secondary school graduate was 28 at the time of the accident and he was an exceptional athlete, having played junior football as a fullback with the Kamloops Cowboys and senior lacrosse as a defenceman for the Cap-Abilities Oldstylers. Smith's power-running ability earned him the nickname "Smash" and his lacrosse teammates kidded him that he had just two speeds – 4-low and 4-high.
"The fact he was an elite athlete prior to the accident saved his life," said Orville Smith, David's dad. "The doctor said that had he not been in good shape when he busted his neck that might have been the end of him. He's physically tough and mentally tough, and that was the biggest part."
David has lived in Kamloops the past five years, where he was in the process of transferring as a CN Rail conductor just before the accident. He hasn't worked on the rails since, but hopes to get back to it. For now, he volunteers at the Kamloops YMCA, where he checks in people as they arrive for their workouts. He's in an exercise class geared to senior citizens and that's helping improve his balance and he's now getting electro-impulse therapy to try increase mobility in his arm.
"Luckily I've had nothing but positive support the whole time, no one has ever said, 'No, you can't,' but I'm kind of a miserable stubborn bugger and I'm not going to say no anyway," he said. "I went into G.F. Strong on a stretcher and ended up going out on my feet. I only made it three or four steps but it counts.
"The last couple years I sort of got up and out of the wheelchair and have been hobbling around like I do now. I always tease my friends that I'll be a real boy again one day. That leads to my favourite terrible joke – I'm all right."
It was Smith's idea to do Mudd, Sweat and Tears and he built up to it by walking at least 7,000 steps per day. He has a couple of friends who have done it and one of them is a personal trainer who suffered a serious injury of his own.
"He's with the Fit As A Fighter crew and he came and did this and I thought to myself, a good goal to strive for would be to hit a fitness challenge that most able-bodies may or may not be able to do, and in my own way prove it to myself.
"Initially, eight kilometres seemed unachievable and then one day I went out until I did it and started doing it regularly. I didn't want to come up here not ready."
