The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 24, 2006 - 7 World's greatest blind athlete inspires students By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The world's greatest blind athlete had St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary students in awe last Thursday. Craig MacFarlane has won more than 100 gold medals, many against athletes who had the benefit of sight. He represented Canada for more than a decade in the wrestling ring. He hit record speeds on the ski hill for a blind athlete. He won the World Blind Water Skiing Championship. He skates, parasails, jet-skis. He was the first totally blind person in the world to water ski jump. Those accomplishments had students asking a lot of questions most of them beginning with `How?' "A lot of it is through muscle memory," MacFarlane said, when asked how he managed to shoot a 91 in golf. "Someone lines me up and tells me the distance. Hopefully through concentration and muscle memory I can hit it the desired distance. If not, I just blame it on the guy who lined me up," he added, smiling. It's a similar situation on the ski hill MacFarlane skis behind a guide and follows the sound of their skis and instructions. "If we're going to hit something, the guide's going to hit it before me anyway," he said, drawing a laugh from students. For the past 15 years, MacFarlane has been traveling throughout Canada and the United States as a motivator and goodwill ambassador for Edward Jones Investments, sharing his story and message of PRIDE: Perseverance, Respect, Individuality, Desire and Enthusiasm. It's a story that has influenced many, including Paul Newman, Mario Andretti and BARRIE ERSKINE/ OAKVILLE BEAVER INSPIRATION: Craig MacFarlane, who has won more than 100 gold medals in a variety of sports speaks to an assembly of St. Ignatius of Loyola students. Wayne Gretzky. The key to success, MacFarlane says, is fairly simple. "It all comes down to good oldfashioned hard work," he told more than 1,000 students in the packed Loyola gym, his second stop in Oakville last week. "You have to be passionate, you have to set goals for yourself. It gives you a reason as to why you should push yourself." MacFarlane credits his parents for instilling him with "a can-do spirit at a very young age." Growing up just outside Sault St. Marie, he was blinded at age two when a striker, which is used to light a welding torch, accidentally hit him in the eye. By two and a half, MacFarlane was completely blind. "I've never looked at it as a handicap. To me, It's always just been a minor inconvenience," he said, adding that his parents always treated him as an equal. "Blindness has never really stood in the way." When he started going to a school for the blind in Brampton at age six, MacFarlane had never even met another blind person. "When I first walked in the halls and someone ran into me, I said, `Hey, watch where you're going," he said, drawing a laugh from students. "We'd do a lot of running into each other over the years." It was at school that MacFarlane was introduced to wrestling. He went on to become a member of Canada's Blind Olympic Team and represented his country for 11 years, winning the Canadian championship seven years in a row. "The process of visualization has helped me immensely," he said. "If you know where the finish line is, it helps you determine the necessary steps that you have to take to get there." And people telling him he couldn't get there was an added motivator. "I can't tell you how many times I've been told, `You can't do that, you're blind,'" he said, adding that he used that frustration as stepping stones to prove them wrong. "I never wanted to give people the opportunity to say, `He lost because he's blind.'" While MacFarlane said he would trade his success and gold medals in sports for a chance to see, he also told students he believes everything happens for a reason. "I believe in playing the hand you've been dealt. I've been dealt a very fair hand," he said. "How you overcome hurdles in your life will ultimately determine how successful you become." For more on Craig MacFarlane, who is the author of Inner Vision, visit www.cmpride.com. A walk in the park FIGHTING ALS ONE STEP AT A TIME: Halton's inaugural Walk for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) drew more than 300 people to Bronte Creek Provincial Park on a cloudy Victoria Day Monday to raise awareness and funds for the fatal condition, which is commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Organizers estimate more than $40,000 was raised towards the ALS Society of Ontario, which funds research for a cure, immediate needs and awareness. ALS causes progressive paralysis of the voluntary muscles, while leaving the brain intact. In many cases, the chest muscles shut down and are no longer able to supply the lungs with oxygen. Halton's first ever ALS fundraising walk was organized by two high school students, St. Thomas Aquinas' Lindsay Robertson and Assumption's Andrea Rende, who hope to continue the tradition in Halton. KEVIN HILL / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER