Northern Ontario snowboarder prepares for Paralympics

As the Olympics start to wind down in PyeongChang, attention is shifting to the upcoming Paralympics.

The Paralympics start in South Korea on March 8.

One athlete from northeastern Ontario is getting ready to compete. Wawa's Colton Liddleis one of the newest members ofCanada'ssnowboard team.

"I'm very excited, it's almost a little surreal," he said.

"This is almost unbelievable."

Liddle lost his leg on the job in 2013 while working as a forest firefighterwith the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. It happened when he went to a gas station to get equipment for a call.

"I parked at the gas station and went to the back of my work truck to grab some jerry cans," he said.

From there, a driver came from behind and attempted to stop but accelerated instead. Liddle says he was pinned in between the two vehicles.

"My right leg got caught," he said. "It was almost taken off right there."

Liddle ended up doing several months of rehabilitation in Toronto and continued that care in Sault Ste. Marie. His goal at the time was to get back out fighting fires and he made enough progress to passthe provincial tests to go back to work. But the endeavour proved to be too much for him. Liddle says clambering through uneven terrain, root-filled land and boggy areas with a prosthetic limb put himself, and others, at risk.

"[I] realized that it wasn't really a path that is suitable for someone with a prosthetic limb," he said.

"I finished out my season and decided to retire from fighting forest fires."

Recreational rehab

He had snowboarded before then and got involved in para snowboarding after trying the sport in Whistler as part of hisrecreational rehab.

"It's helped with my quality of life," he said.

"When I left Wawa, I wasn't very happy with the situation I was in. So being able to move out west and get on a snowboard again and being able to pursue it more as a full time job, kind of, added a bit of quality to my life. I think it's helped in my recovery."

In 2016, he started para snowboarding intensively without the intent on competing internationally. But the more he snowboarded, the more he realized he may be ready to compete.

As for getting ready for the world stage, Liddle says he feels his teammates have a good chance of doing well in PyeongChang.

"It's looking really good," he said.

"I'm hoping that we bring home some medals. I'm shooting for finishing it and finishing strong."