Woman training for Paralympics searching for stolen wheelchair racer

A Paralympic hopeful is hoping for the return of her wheelchair racer.

Jessica Frotten, a wheelchair racer who competes in the 400, 800, 1,500, and 5,000 metre races, said her racer was stolen from her garage on Hamilton Street on Wednesday night.

“Never in 100 years would I think someone would try to steal it. It’s pretty awkward – it’s around six feet tall – it’s not like you can just jump on it and ride it like a bicycle. It’s a commitment to try and take it,” Frotten said.

She pointed out the racer costs from 8 to 10 thousand dollars and is custom-made for the individual rider.

“I’m looking at three months before I could even get into a new one.”

Jessica Frotten training using her wheelchair racer. (Jessica Frotten/Submitted)

She said there hasn’t been much luck getting information about where it might’ve gone, saying only one person from the building she lives in says they might have seen someone throwing a tire into a dumpster.

“There’s no surveillance footage of anything. I’m hoping someone sees it, maybe it’s in a ditch somewhere. The reality is it’s completely useless to anyone but me. You couldn’t even sell it I don’t think,” Frotten said.

The stolen racer is just another roadblock put in the way of Frotten achieving her goal of representing Canada and wearing the Maple Leaf at the Paralympics.

“It is a total bummer but COVID pretty much shut down the racing season with the postponement of the Olympics and Paralympics but my racer’s gone, I can’t find it anywhere. Now I’m not training and it’s going to take forever to get a new one and I’d really love it if it just magically showed up,” Frotten said. “There was some tears. I feel this whole season has been – with the coronavirus shutting everything down and things getting postponed and my racer getting stolen – it’s so much. It’s been tough.”

Frotten said she has been able to get to the gym to train but you can’t replace the work done while out on the racer.

“As an athlete you plan out every part of your life and this isn’t part of the plan. You’ve got to re-work it and plan everything out,” Frotten said. “If you’re not training in your racer and you’re not doing that training, I’m going to lose my technical edge for sure.”

Anyone with information on its whereabouts can call Frotten at the number found on her Facebook post or contact the Regina Police Service.