Aaron Scheidies has a severe vision-impairment, but he can do a lot of things that people with perfect eyesight can do - and maybe a little more.
Scheidies can drive a car short distances with the help of telescopic glasses. He’s able to read books on a closed-circuit television that magnifies the words to about 16 times their normal size.
And he can probably kick your butt in a triathlon, no matter how well you see or how good of shape you’re in.
The 5-foot-11, 140-pound kinesiology junior, who suffers from macular degeneration, an incurable hereditary disease that gradually depletes his central vision, is one of the best triathletes in the state, period.
Scheidies is legally blind with 20/300 vision - which means he can see something clearly at 20 feet that people with normal eyesight can see at 300 feet. But that doesn’t hold him back much in triathlons featuring legs of swimming, biking and running.
“I’ve always been a pretty strong-willed, competitive person, so I think that’s helped me a lot in dealing with the disability,” Scheidies said. “Triathlons relieve a lot of the stress in my life.”
He started competing in triathlons during high school, after his vision became too poor to continue playing soccer. Now, just a few years after he picked up the sport, Scheidies figures he’s one of the three best triathletes at MSU and he also qualified for the physically challenged division at the International Triathlon Union World Championships, which will take place Nov. 9-10 in Cancun, Mexico.
Scheidies said his vision hurts him the most while biking because he can’t see potholes and usually can’t see turns until they’re already upon him. Staying on course while swimming also is difficult, but Scheidies excels in the water and can usually find someone to follow.
Scheidies has never raced against another visually impaired triathlete, nor does he usually compete against people with disabilities. But in Cancun, Scheidies will race against the top triathletes with disabilities from around the globe, hoping to take home a world title.
“The only thing I still have to get is my plane ticket,” said the 20-year-old Farmington Hills native who’s paying the way with his own money and the help of a few sponsors. “I can’t wait.”
Scheidies will be one of three visually impaired Americans in his division at the world championships. He qualified by winning the physically challenged division at the USA Triathlon World Qualifier in June in Lake Placid, N.Y., with a time of two hours, 30 minutes and 32 seconds for the approximately 31-mile race. He finished a 1.5-kilometer swim in about 23 minutes, a 40-kilometer bike ride in 80 minutes and a 10-kilometer run in about 42 minutes and 30 seconds. He said he plans to beat all of those times in Cancun.
Scheidies, who usually races alone, is required to have a guide for the world championship, so he chose 27-year-old Matt West, a former track star at Eastern Michigan.
West will be allowed to keep Scheidies on course during the swimming and running portions of the race and the duo will pedal together on a tandem bike.
West and Scheidies met earlier this summer while racing at two different triathlons in Michigan. West remembers being “neck-and-neck” with Scheidies at both races, which seemed to make him a perfect candidate to be a guide. When Scheidies asked him, West said he was humbled.
“It kind of chokes me up sometimes to think about someone with his eyesight going out there and doing what he does,” said West, who lives in Ypsilanti. “He’s amazing.”
Just making it to a world championship is a goal most people never fulfill. But neither Scheidies nor West are content with just visiting Cancun - they want to win.
Working toward that goal, the two have been training together, learning the nuances of a team-triathlon race, which neither person has ever done.
They also have developed a strategy.
“I’m trying to become a better swimmer so I can kind of pull Aaron along, and we’re going to try to hook up with a faster team and tag along with them,” West said.
“As far as biking, I’m going to try to muscle as much as I can so Aaron can save himself for the running.”
Win or lose, Scheidies said the world championship is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He estimates he’s competed in 22 or 23 triathlons in his life, but this one far supersedes the others.
“I’m doing it because I’m representing MSU, I’m doing it because I like to do it and I’m doing it to be an inspiration,” said Scheidies, who’s the president of the MSU Triathlon Club.
“I’m going down there to, hopefully, win the gold medal in my division, but also to serve as an inspiration to others in the disabled community that they can do whatever they want - if they have the determination.”
