Para Athletes use Bloomsday to inspire

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Twenty-one athletes all with one goal in mind.

The Elite Wheelchair Division is one of the most competitive heats at Bloomsday.

"I usually do shorter stuff so this is a long race for me," Kayla Woputz said. "There's just some events that get the magic going."

Woputz will be compositing in her second Bloomsday race. She's a former college track athlete whose career was cut short due to complications with surgery following a back injury.

"I didn't really think of myself as an athlete anymore," Woputz said.

After years of rehab and trial and error in multiple sports, she connected with Para Sport Spokane, which provides opportunities for para athletes helping them keep their disabilities on the sidelines.

"Coming to a space where there is a group of support around you is really hard to describe," Woputz said.

Race day numbers are nearly the same as last year. With the Paralympics in August, the Elite Wheelchair Division did not get the participation increase they expected.

"A lot of the top end athletes are focusing on getting qualified on the track this year," Bloomsday Elite Wheelchair Athlete Coordinator David Greig said. "So we're missing a large number of those athletes."

In a marathon, every second counts.

"I found adaptive sport as a way to switch out of the mindset I had been in, which was taking all these things I couldn't do and transforming them into the things I can do," second-year competitor Heather Sealover said.

To these Bloomies, the only number that matters is the amount of athletes they hope to inspire.

"Knowing that there is an avenue for you to not only do sport and do it recreationally but do it competitively as an elite athlete and that is a pathway for you, that's just everything," Woputz said.

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