By Stephen Brun
Journal Pioneer
SUMMERSIDE – Paul Wright is a familiar, and perhaps somewhat unusual, sight to anyone travelling Route 1A near Bedeque.
The 55-year-old can be seen most mornings, ski poles in hand, clad in a body-hugging suit, gliding along the shoulder of the highway atop his roller-skis.
Next month, the long-time skier is putting all of that off-season training to use when he attempts to roller-ski across the Island in three days.
The Bedeque resident hopes his “Roll the Island” initiative will raise $10,000 to support Right to Play, and organization that affords underprivileged kids more opportunities to participate in sports.
“It seemed like a good fit for me, because (sports) has been a part of my life all along. We kind of take those things for granted here,” said Wright.
“I got the idea about a year ago, but I had to put a lot of thought into it.”
Wright is a long-time competitive runner and cross-country skier, and discovered roller-skis in the early 1990s as a way to train for events in the off-season.
He began using them more frequently later in the decade after a knee injury hampered his running, and roller-skiing provided less wear and tear on his body.
“The body doesn't care whether you're skiing on the snow or the road,” he said. “It's not a nice thing if you fall on the asphalt, but other than that, I enjoy it.”
He said several competitive skiers use roller-skis in western Canada, but the practice is rare on the Island.
The lightweight contraptions are much shorter than actual cross-country skis, but are meant to simulate the skiing experience as closely as possible.
The front wheels, for instance, are ratcheted so the skis don't roll backwards when travelling up hillsides.
Beginning Nov. 4 in North Cape, Wright hopes to be the first person to make a 285-kilometre trek across P.E.I. on roller-skis.
Although completing the journey would be a personal milestone, Wright is glad to have the incentive of supporting Right to Play as motivation for completing his “Roll the Island.”
Sport P.E.I. is already on board as a sponsor, and donations from around the Island and Canada have begun to roll in.
With a strategy of rolling for seven to eight hours a day, the initiative will be more challenging than the usual ski marathons Wright takes part in, which usually average about three hours.
“It's attainable, but I don't want to go out on a limb and say it's easy,” he said. “If you got something like a headwind all three days, it might almost become insurmountable. It'll be quite a bit easier on the days it's on the highway, but I didn't want to make it too easy.”
Donations in support of “Roll the Island” can be made online at: http://bit.ly/donaterolltheisland or by mail to Right to Play: 1110 – 65 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ont., M5H 2M5.
Wright has also set up a Facebook page for “Roll the Island” for updates on his training.
sbrun@journalpioneer.com
