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Challenged Athletes Division: Competitor Bios
John Davis- Two time Paralympic gold medalist and pioneer of the sport of off road wheelchair racing. He grew up surfing in Santa Cruz in the 80’s with many of today’s top big wave and free surfers. After a 20 year hiatus from surfing he is “stoked to be back in the water again…thanks Steve Bohne at Infinity Surf and his awesome wave ski boards!” John placed second at this year’s WSA WCC in the challenged athletes division.
Patrick Ivison- 15 year old Patrick Ivison was hit by a car as a toddler resulting in a spinal cord injury. Patrick is an adaptive surfer sponsored by …Lost, and Bern Helmets and is also a motivational speaker.
Dana Cummings – Dana is the Exec. Dir. of AmpSurf, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching people with disabilities the healing power of the ocean and adaptive surfing while focusing on the participant’s abilities not their disabilities. Dana has been an Amputee himself for 8 yrs. and had never surfed before losing his leg. He took up surfing to help recover from his loss. Dana is a Marine and did two tours in the first gulf war, is the proud father of five great kids and has a beautiful wife Rebecca.
Dana was the recipient of the Gatorade go all Day award at this year’s WSA WCC and was recently featured as a CNN Hero for his efforts in bringing adaptive surfing to our disabled veterans as a form of rehab. Dana is sponsored by Operation Rebound another non-profit organization dedicated to helping disabled veterans, police and firemen achieve their athletic goals.
Mark Thorton – “I use an infinity wave ski, surf 2-3 days a week! Live to Play, Play to Live! Go Big, or go home!” Mark also competed in this year WSA WCC and placed 4th in the finals.
Ryan Levinson - When Ryan Levinson was 19 years old he noticed some of his muscles starting to disappear. At the time he compensated by riding larger boards as paddling became more difficult. Eventually Levinson lost the ability to paddle a regular surfboard and was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called FSH Muscular Dystrophy. There is not yet any treatment nor cure. Ryan has lost muscles in many parts of his body and can no longer do a pushup, a sit-up, or even hold his arms over his head. People with Ryan’s condition usually continue to lose muscle their entire lives and often lose the ability to even close their eyes or smile. Despite this, Ryan has found ways to continue to spend nearly every day in the water surfing, kiting, paddling, diving, swimming and even operating Rescue Watercraft (he worked on the water rescue patrols at this year’s Mavericks and Todos big wave contests). Ryan lives by the motto, “you can’t always choose what challenges you will face, but you can choose how you respond.”
Barney Miller – At the age of 19, Barney Miller was an upcoming surfer in Australia and making a living owning his own white water rafting business. In 1998, he was in a horrible car accident that almost killed him resulting in him being a quadriplegic. Once you make surfing a part of your life, no matter what happens to you, it will always remain a part of your life and you will do everything you can to get in the water and catch a few waves. Lucky for Barney he has a lot of friends who really care about him and Barney is still able to get out and surf with his friends by his side.
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