Don Lane
posted 4/12/08 - 4:36 am
Here are some links to some media stories, including a video, on the theft of the van, trailer, and entire set of wheelchair rugby chairs that belong to the rugby team from Edmonton, Alberta.
If anyone hears of any leads that could help us recover those chairs, please contact me at the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association:
1.613.523.0004 We will accept collect calls.
Thank you,
Don Lane
CWSA
http://www.ctvedmonton.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080411/EDM_wheelcha...
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/04/12/5266116-sun.html
Just in case those links go dead, here is the text:
By DANIEL MACISAAC, SUN MEDIA
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Wheelchair rugby player B.J. Engerdahl sits at the spot near 93 Street and 101 A Avenue where someone stole a van and trailer containing 13 customized sport wheelchairs. (Jason Franson, Sun Media)
Members of a local wheelchair rugby team say their ability to compete in an upcoming national championship is in jeopardy following the theft of their equipment - and they are appealing for help.
B.J. Engerdahl, a member of the Edmonton-based Steel Wheels Wheelchair Rugby Club and the provincial Alberta Roughnecks squad, said he was shocked to find the team's van and trailer missing from behind his apartment building at 9330 101A Ave. on Thursday afternoon.
"We have security cameras around the building and there was a couple of suspicious guys looking in some vehicles - this was one o'clock in the afternoon, broad daylight," he said. "The next thing you see is the van being stolen."
Engerdahl, 30, said the van belongs to a teammate, but that the non-profit club owns the trailer and the valuable equipment stored inside. That includes some 13 custom-built sports wheelchairs - featuring angled wheels and front bumpers - costing about $5,000 each, plus spare wheels worth $1,300 per set.
Engerdahl said even if the players could come up with the cash to replace the specialized chairs, it would still be near-impossible to buy new ones in time for the nationals in Toronto next month.
"There's only one company in Canada that makes these chairs - and he's a very busy man," Engerdahl said. "And the thing is they're custom-made for each player, so it's doubtful we could borrow chairs, either, because they just wouldn't fit the guys properly. It'd be like borrowing someone's shoes,"
But Kathy Newman, executive-director of the B.C. Wheelchair Sports Association - which will help host a pre-Paralympics rugby tournament in the run-up to the Beijing Games this summer - said the sporting community might yet come through.
"It would be a terrible shame if they were to miss the national championships," she said. "I was saying to my colleague here we should put a call out across Canada to see if there are any spare chairs we could adapt."
Originally known as "murderball," wheelchair rugby was developed in Winnipeg in the 1970s for athletes who are quadriplegic. Combining elements of basketball, hockey and team handball, it's also the only full-contact sport played by people with disabilities.
The Roughnecks' stolen van is a green Ford Econline E350 modified for wheelchair access, pulling an enclosed white trailer measuring approximately four metres by two metres.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)
____________________
Rugby team stranded after brazen wheelchair theft
Amanda Ferguson, Updated: Fri Apr. 11 2008 17:20:25
ctvedmonton.ca
A well-earned trip to the Canadian National Wheelchair Rugby Championships has been thrown into question for some Edmonton athletes after someone stole the team's tractor-trailer full of customized wheelchairs.
Team member B.J. Engerdahl said the trailer contained about $100,000 worth of equipment used by the Alberta Roughnecks.
Engerdahl said he thinks the equipment was stolen in the morning hours before 1 p.m. on Thursday.
"I couldn't believe it, we looked out the window and it was gone," he said.
The team's green Ford van and white trailer contained 13 wheelchairs and rugby equipment is needed for practices. Engerdahl said the team was looking forward to the championships in early May.
"If we were able to get the chairs back we would be able to go to Canadian nationals next month," he said. "If not, we won't be able to."
Police spokeswoman Patrycia Chalupczyska said officers have started an investigation into the stolen goods.
"All officers within the EPS have been notified and are the lookout for this van and the trailer," she said.
The team said they are shocked at the theft because the chairs are not valuable to anyone but the people who play the sport.
"I guess that is why they are criminals, they just have no conscience whatsoever they dont care who their victim is," Engerdahl said.
The group said their equipment is not insured and they wouldn't be able to cover the $100,000 to replace all 13 chairs.
"We'd just really like those chairs back," Engerdahl said.
With files from Rob McAnally
Don Lane
posted 4/12/08 - 4:38 am
Further contact info
I can also be reached by cell at 613.286.5233 or by e-mail at chairs@cwsa.ca
Don Lane
posted 4/14/08 - 6:48 am
The chairs and the van have been recovered
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=5a716d5a-795e-4316-9664-92629c0d6a6a&k=61782
Local team back on track for rugby tourney
Jodie Sinnema, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:00 am
An Edmonton-based wheelchair rugby team will be able to attend a national competition in May after city police Sunday found a stolen trailer filled with $100,000 worth of the team's specialized wheelchairs and equipment.
"What a great day," said Ken Hicks, a 43-year-old rugby player who wheeled his way to a dead-end road at 93rd Street and 106th Avenue, where the team's trailer was left. It was stolen Thursday afternoon when Hicks took it from its storage lot and parked it at a friend's house while on his way to get the tail lights fixed.
The thieves made off in Hicks's cargo van, pulling the uninsured white trailer filled with 13 specialized rugby wheelchairs with front bumpers and angled wheels meant for the fast-paced, bruising game. The trailer also carried 10 years of accumulated equipment, including rugby balls, tools, a hand cycle and spare chair parts.
Edmonton wheelchair athlete Ken Hicks shakes Sgt. Erik Johnson's hand after police recovered his rugby club's trailer full of specialized wheelchairs.
Ed Kaiser, The Journal
Replacing the chairs in time for a national competition in Toronto next month would have been nearly impossible, Hicks said, although he received several calls from other Canadian teams offering to donate spare chairs if necessary.
Only two or three companies in North America make the chairs and already have long wait lists. Each chair costs about $5,000, a hefty chunk of cash for Edmonton's not-for-profit Steel Wheels Wheelchair Rugby Club.
So when Edmonton Police Sgt. Erik Johnson called Hicks on Sunday and told him he had located the trailer only four blocks north of where it was stolen, Hicks was relieved and thankful. "This goes above and beyond the call of duty," Hicks said.
Johnson and his squad of 13 officers were determined to find the trailer when they heard the rugby team's story on Global TV. "We really wanted these guys to make the nationals," said Johnson, who found the trailer himself.
"We deal with so much crime and tragedy every day it is just nice to be able to legitimately help somebody out. It is instant gratification. We help people every day and we don't always get recognized for that."
Johnson said city police hear about 25 to 30 vehicle thefts every day. Older, experienced thieves often target big vans they can stuff full of stolen goods during break and enters. Trailers are an even bigger score, since they often carry snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles.
But Johnson said when the thieves cut the lock to Hicks's trailer and discovered the specialized wheelchair equipment, they likely realized the stash wasn't valuable to them and cut their losses in a low-traffic neighbourhood.
"I would have a hard time saying these people are at all altruistic, or else I'm sure they would have phoned and left a tip with Crime Stoppers."
On Sunday afternoon, one of his constables also located Hicks's green van nearby with the keys in the ignition, the doors unlocked and no harm done. Police will continue to search for the perpetrators.
Hicks, a former iron worker, was paralyzed from the waist down when he fell off a building at work. He said wheelchair rugby helped in his healing, even though he flipped backwards and bonked his head the first time he tried the game as part of rehabilitation treatment at the Glenrose hospital.
"There are not a lot of team sports for (quadriplegics)," Hicks said, noting that members of the rugby team must have deficits in all four limbs to be part of the sport. Hicks's hands don't work and his arm strength is limited, but he heads to practice at the Glenrose and a junior high school every Wednesday night and Saturday morning.
"The camaraderie of the wheelchair community, not just in Canada but throughout the entire world, is amazing."
Hicks said he didn't know the trailer wasn't insured until after the theft. That's about to change, he said. "We have learned our lesson now."