Sometimes a person’s biggest trauma is not the obvious one. Through his personal story, average triathlete turned paratriathlete Rob Balucas shows us how we can learn from our existential crises and take those life skills with us into the inevitable next round of challenge and adversity. Paralyzed in a 2015 bike accident while training for a Half IRONMAN triathlon, Rob has come back to compete in five Half IRONMANs to date, including the 2019 half IRONMAN World Championships in Nice, France. Rob Balucas is an ‘every-man joe’ who was thrust into extraordinary circumstances in 2015 when a cycling accident rendered him paraplegic. At the time he was training for his first half IRONMAN triathlon, which was supposed to take place the very next weekend. He vowed to return to triathlon within a year and raced in 3 sprint-distance triathlons the next year after his injury.
Since then he’s competed in 5 half IRONMANs, including the 2019 half IRONMAN World Championships in Nice, France. His next goal is to qualify again for the Kona (full) IRONMAN World Championship and race in triathlon’s biggest stage as a paratriathlete.
Outside of paratriathlon, Rob resides in Southern California with his partner, Erika, and their dog Chloe. He is a small business owner at babaLucas Creative, serving the branding, marketing, and website needs of small businesses and non-profits. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx