What do you do when your child has a very rare chromosome disorder? Nick Watson decided to give his son, Rio, a chance to experience triathlon thrills, pulling him as he swims, pushing him as he runs and cycling with Rio in front.
Rio Watson is a 14-year-old boy with a very rare chromosome disorder, 1q44 deletion syndrome, which affects his speech and motor skills and makes even simple movements – like walking – a challenge.
That does not stop him from taking part in Dubai’s toughest races.
Rio has his father, British former Royal Marine and fitness expert Nick Watson, to thank for that.
Nick makes sure that when he signs up to a triathlon, Rio gets to experience the thrill of the race.
He swims and pulls Rio along in a kayak, pushes him in a chair as he runs, and cycles with Rio sitting on the front of his bike.
But this is not only a father-son story, as the rest of the family are also now taking it in turns to race with Rio. Rio’s 10-year-old sister, Tia, pulled and pushed her older brother all the way to the finish line at a junior triathlon in March. The following week, Rio’s mother Delphine held her son’s hand as he took part in his first solo triathlon.
The Watson family are better known by their racing name, Team Angel Wolf, because Tia’s nickname is Little Wolf, and Rio is Angel.
Nick has been a keen triathlete since he was 16. In 2002, when Delphine was pregnant with Rio, Nick took part in the world’s most challenging triathlon – the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
“As I was racing, I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to enter a race with my son,” he says. “I just never imagined it would happen the way it has.”
Nick describes the first few years after Rio was born as being “almost like a bereavement” as the family struggled to cope with Rio’s seizures. “The unknown was the scariest part, as Rio wasn’t properly diagnosed until he was four.”
But Nick and Delphine have been determined to push the boundaries of what Rio can do, helping their son to go swimming, horse riding, bowling and skiing.
For eight years, Nick ran an annual fun-day in Zabeel Park called Reaching You, in which children with and without special needs got the chance to play together. But in 2014, a health scare prompted Nick to reassess his priorities, and focus more on getting himself fit again.
“The doctors found a big lump in my colon and once they removed it, I decided to do an Ironman Triathlon,” he says.
“One day, my training wasn’t going too well, and my wife said, ‘Look, have you ever thought about doing a race with Rio?’ I thought to myself how Rio would never get the opportunity to feel how I did during my first race. The only way I could help him feel like that would be for me to take him with me.”
Nick then found out about Team Hoyt, a father-son team who have completed more than 1,000 marathons and triathlons in the United States.
In 1977, Rick Hoyt, who is a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, competed in his first race pushed by his father, Dick, in a wheelchair. “When I’m racing, it feels like I’m not handicapped,” Rick told his father.
“He’s the grandfather of what we’ve been doing,” says Nick. “We’re in contact with other teams across the world doing similar to ourselves. But in the UAE, we’re the only ones.”
The Watsons’ first race, “on a particularly hot day”, was Dubai International Triathlon in November 2014. As he warmed up, Nick was worried about how Rio would react, especially during the 90-kilometre cycle.
Would he be able to sit still for all that time? The swim – with Rio pulled along in a kayak – was also a worry, because he once jumped in the water during training when Nick paused after being stung by a swarm of jellyfish.
Nick had nothing to fear, and the pair crossed the finishing line to rapturous cheering from spectators. “It was such a magical moment,” he says. Other racers were also quick to offer them words of encouragement.
“On our first race, it was a bit of a shock that we hadn’t expected,” says Nick. “Cyclists passed us on the bike shouting ‘Go Rio’, and ‘Well done, you guys are an inspiration’. These days, everyone on the course either shouts, claps, or gives us thumbs up when they see us.”
Nick and Rio’s second race, Challenge Dubai, turned out to be more challenging than expected owing to a severe sandstorm.
“The race organisers said they weren’t sure that we should swim. Being very stubborn and ex-military, my response was ‘Look guys, lets find a solution’.”
Nick agreed to be followed into the choppy waters by a race volunteer on a paddleboard. But during the 90-kilometre cycle that followed, the wind and sand blew from every direction. “I started wondering if Rio was OK,” says Nick.
Rio is able to express only a few words, but Nick knew his son would scream loudly if he wasn’t happy. Halfway through, Nick was expecting Rio to start screaming. “Instead he looked at me and, in his little broken voice, said: ‘Dadda, I love you’. I was in tears, just in absolute bits. The next 30 kilometres was probably the easiest in my life.”
At the end of the seven-hour race, Nick struggled to persuade Rio to get out of his pushchair.
“He laughed, and said, ‘Dadda, more.’ That’s when I realised just how much he loves racing.”
Nick and Rio then started racing together every weekend, and have so far completed more than 75 events.
As well as many triathlons, they ascended Emirates Towers for the Dubai Holding SkyRun 2016; with Nick carrying Rio in a sling across his back up 55 floors. For the Desert Warrior challenge later that year, Nick persuaded a group of friends to get involved.
“He sat in a stretcher smiling as we went around the course finding as many obstacles as possible,” Nick explains.
Every weekend, the family gets up as early as 4am to drive to a race.
“It’s family bonding time,” says Nick. In March, Tia completed her first triathlon in her age group – the 2XU Triathlon Series by Super Sports Events. She pulled Rio, who weighs 35 kilograms, in a kayak for the 200-metre swim, then in a buggy attached to her bike for the 8km cycle, and pushed him in a pushchair for the 1.25km run.
“Some people wondered if we made her do it, but this could only be people who don’t know our Little Wolf very well,” says Delphine.
“Nobody can make her do anything; she’s a very strong-willed, free spirited, wild child.”
After the race, a tired Tia gave her brother a hug and a gentle word in his ear. Delphine asked her daughter how she had been so calm about the race.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” she replied.
On March 31, Rio did the Ashurst TriFest Triathlon all on his own.
“Rio was competing against four-year-olds and needed his mum’s help, but it was still incredible that he managed to compete the course,” says Nick.
A video of Rio racing, which shows him smiling and clapping upon reaching the finishing line, has been watched more than 30,000 times since it was released on May 4.
“The reaction that he gave was a huge milestone for Rio,” says Nick.
“A couple of years ago, he wouldn’t have done that. We’ve seen huge changes in his development, and some of that is because of the racing. It’s like a therapy for him. We’ve made positive change out of having a son with disability, and we’re hopefully spreading awareness. But first and foremost, Rio just loves racing.”
newsdesk@thenational.ae