The Orléans resident was one of about 330 speed skaters representing 12 countries in Calgary earlier this month. Not only did the deaf and blind speed skater rank 27th in the world in his class, he also got a chance to meet Olympic medallist Cindy Klassen and raise awareness about disabled athletes. He even got Klassen to go around the track with specially made glasses so she would understand what it’s like for him when he competes.

“I feel I got the message out,” said Frost, who would like to see speed skating become a demonstration sport in the Paralympics. “I got a lot of great feedback.”

He also found that some countries have a greater level of awareness when it comes to disabled skaters. Frost said Dutch and Swiss skaters had indicated they’d encountered disabled athletes in their sport many times.

The event was also an eye opener in other ways. Racing against top notch skaters, Frost was able to discover what he has to do to compete at an elite level.

The trip also gave Frost a chance to skate on Calgary’s famous oval – an indoor long track rink sheltered from winter’s cold winds.

“The ice is so fast,” Frost said, adding he had to get used to the thinner air since Calgary is at a higher altitude.

The athlete managed to get a personal best in each of his races. He shaved six seconds off his 500 metre race, 28 seconds off the 1500, and an impressive 54 seconds from the 3000.

It’s possible he could have shaved even more time off his longer race. On the journey to Calgary, Frost’s orange flags went missing, so he didn’t have a clear visual cue to let him know when he had skated the necessary number of laps.

The 3,000 metre race had some added confusion. Four would race at a time, at intervals. Frost saw the skater in front of him slow down to finish his laps, so Frost started to slow down, thinking he was finished. That’s when he was told he had another lap, and his time was on a different counter.

Despite the setback, Frost took the incident in stride and accepted it as a learning curve.

Frost said, overall, the event was greatly satisfying.

But the wonders didn’t stop once he flew out of Calgary. At home, his family, friends, and members of the ORC were waiting to surprise Frost with a celebration.

“It was a great way to end it,” he said.

The long track season is now over, and Frost will compete in one last short track event in Kitchener, Ontario at the end of March. Then it’s back to dry land training before the season picks up again in the fall.