A Life of Resilience and Determination
When Chris Arthey is training or racing, he doesn’t think about being an amputee. For the 71-year-old, it’s all about pace, heart rate, and whether he can catch the person in front of him. His focus is on pushing himself to achieve the best he can, and he plans to keep doing what he loves as long as he enjoys it.
Arthey is currently training six days a week for his seventh super triathlon race at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire in June. His journey to this point has been nothing short of remarkable.
A Life Changed in an Instant
Arthey has always loved running and participating in endurance events. However, 18 years ago, his life took a dramatic turn when he and his wife, Denise, were riding a motorbike in Texas. A drunk driver traveling on the wrong side of the road hit them head-on at 80mph (130km/h). Both Arthey and his wife had to have their left legs amputated. At the time, Arthey didn’t know if he would ever be able to walk, let alone run again.
“Running had always been such a big part of my life, so when I realized my leg had gone, I thought that was the end of that,” he said.
Before the accident, Arthey had already completed nine international marathons. He was just starting to train for his next marathon, which would have been in Houston, when the crash happened.
The Road to Recovery
After the accident, Arthey was placed in a medically induced coma. When he woke up, he was told his left leg had been amputated. “When I was fully conscious, I found it really difficult to come to terms with the fact that I had lost my leg. Running was a huge part of my identity, and it left me thinking, who am I now? That was really my lowest point,” he recalled.
The couple spent months recovering in a rehabilitation programme in America before returning to the UK with prosthetic legs. “Nobody had told me that people who have their leg amputated above the knee don’t do marathons and triathlons, so I got curious about what could be achieved,” Arthey said.
Redefining Possibilities
Arthey chose a prosthetic company that connected him with the prosthetist of Olympic and Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius. They fitted him with a prosthetic leg and taught him to run again in the car park outside the prosthetist’s office. “Within a few minutes, I could run a few paces, and what shocked me is it actually felt like running. It was very exciting,” he said.
Since the motorcycle crash, Arthey has completed two marathons, including the London Marathon in 2017 at age 61, becoming the first above-knee amputee to complete the race, finishing in 4 hours and 50 minutes. He has also completed more than 20 triathlons, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and trekked to Everest base camp.
Continuing the Journey
Arthey is currently training six days a week for the super triathlon at Blenheim Palace on 7 June. This will be the seventh time he has competed in the event. “I will keep doing what I’m doing for as long as I can enjoy it. The reality is that slower years are coming now, and that is a shame, but it’s been great fun along the way,” he said.
Over the years, he has raised thousands of pounds for the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity, which supports disabled people in the UK and around the world.
A Celebration of Human Spirit
The Blenheim Palace Supertri triathlon will take place on 6 and 7 June in Oxfordshire. Arthey will join more than 7,000 participants swimming, cycling, and running around the historical estate and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
Michael D’hulst, co-founder and CEO of Supertri, said: “I think sport can give meaning and purpose to people’s lives, and Chris’ story is ultimately the epiphany of that. If at the age of 71 you can continue to challenge yourself, push your boundaries, push your mind and your body, that sets an amazing example to people and is something we should celebrate.”
