Corvallis athlete seeks spot in 2024 Paris Paralympics (2024)

KEVIN HAMPTONFor Mid-Valley Media

Jeremy Van Tress shifts his body into the seat of the recumbent handcycle, pulling his legs into position and laying back, ready to roll.

A former runner, Van Tress is in the midst of an ongoing battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The legs that once carried him over cross-country courses now can only support him for a few moments.

So he found another sport.

Van Tress, a resident of Corvallis, was stuck in a hospital room with respiratory problems and relying on a ventilator when he found the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics on TV. Inspiration struck.

At first it was about testing his limits. He tried to stay off the ventilator for longer periods. Then he started getting out of the bed more often and spent more time sitting in chairs.

“I just decided that I was going to try to do this and figure it out,” Van Tress said. “I didn’t want a doctor telling me, yes or no, you can do this or you can’t do this. I wanted to figure it out for myself.”

A few months later he was out of the hospital. Van Tress was given an entry-level racing bike, a Top End Force RX, by the Veterans Administration.

“I remember the first time I tried it. I was like, well, I hope I’m able to get back home because at the time I lived on a slope and it was hard, but I was able to do it,” he said. “I went out for about a 10, 15-minute ride, came back and tried it again the next day.”

Van Tress started riding competitively in 2021, not long after getting the handcycle.

He tested the waters by taking his oldest son on a trip to a few races.

Three years later, Van Tress is working on qualifying for the 2024 Paris Paralympics, which follow the Olympic Games.

Sports an outlet

Competitive sports has always been an outlet for Van Tress and often a way to handle some of the harsher aspects of life.

Running came naturally to Van Tress. When his elementary school took part in a Walk Across America challenge, he had his eyes on the winner’s prize of Disneyland tickets and decided to run to pile up the mileage.

He wound up winning the competition.

“I don’t remember what we did with those Disneyland tickets but it did really light a fire in me about running,” Van Tress said.

He eventually joined cross country and track teams and was encouraged by his success. Running also was a welcome respite from his home life. His parents divorced and Van Tress said his relationship with his stepfather was rough.

There were a bunch of children in the mix and Van Tress said being a rather hyperactive kid most likely did not help matters because he tended to attract attention.

“So there were a lot of dynamics at play with split families,” he said. “We would kind of go back and forth between my mom’s and my dad’s house. Eventually my mom and my stepdad just ended up leaving and they went to Arkansas (from Southern California) and so I didn’t see my mom for quite a few years, it was at least three or four years. So I didn’t have much contact with my mom.

“It kind of all came to a head when I was 16 and I just left and basically did my own thing. I was actually homeless for a couple of weeks and then ended up renting a room from one of my friends’ mom. So I did that for about a year and then my oldest brother, Will, he and I lived together for my senior year in high school.”

Van Tress was also working 30 hours a week and wasn’t applying himself fully to his studies. But he stuck with running and was good enough to continue in college.

He put everything on hold to go on a mission to Chile with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having returned to the fold during that time.

He was back in 2003 and signed a letter of intent to compete for Long Beach State but eventually wound up going to Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

As a sophom*ore, Van Tress won the Pac-West cross-country title. He missed his junior season with rhabdomyolysis, which causes muscles to break down, sometimes brought on by overexertion or injury.

It took Van Tress six months to recover. Not long after, he wound up marrying his wife, Courtney during that junior year. They now have six children (Lucy, 18; Willie, 16; Hallee, 14; Ivy, 13; JJ, 9 and Asael, 7).

Van Tress graduated in 2007 and spent nearly a year in Oregon before returning to Hawaii to pursue his masters degree in social work.

He completed the degree in 2009 and began work but was eventually laid off due to the 2008-09 recession.

That led to a stint in the U.S. Army.

At 27, Van Tress was far from old but that’s not how his fellow basic trainees saw it.

“They called me gramps because I was old to them,” Van Tress, now 42, said. “I was almost 10 years older than them.”

Something is wrong

Van Tress spent most of his active (six years) and reserve duty (three years) at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

He deployed to Afghanistan from 2013-14. Within a year of returning, he began to notice some hand weakness.

At the time, he attributed it to post-deployment chronic fatigue. Another six to nine months passed and Van Tress started to experience issues while running.

He had foot-drop and issues with balance, coordination and stamina.

There was one run where he began to struggle with an altitude he had never had problems with previously. Something was clearly off.

“Really, when I started a run and couldn’t get past a mile and a half, two miles, that’s what really compelled me to get checked out,” he said.

At one point it was suggested that he had spinal stenosis and some pinched nerves. But the news gradually became more concerning.

After seeing a few physicians, Van Tress went to the University of Chicago and a follow-up at the Indianapolis VA and ALS was eventually diagnosed.

“The day that it was confirmed, that was a tough day. Because it confirmed that my long-term trajectory was probably quite short,” Van Tress said. “Sixty to 70 percent of patients are dead within two to five years. So it’s a very poor prognosis and there’s no treatments, there’s nothing that they’ve found that can slow that down in any measurable way that is meaningful.”

It took some time but Van Tress was able to come to terms with his situation.

It helped him to understand that there was little chance of a cure coming along anytime soon. But that wasn’t without a few years of depression.

“After a period of two or three years of pretty bad, profound sadness, I decided to (say), look, if I don’t accept this and move on, what am I doing? What am I here for? For my family’s sake I need to make peace with this,” he said.

His wife had suggested he use the G.I. Bill to go back to school and get his doctorate.

So he focused on his studies during his depression and while in the hospital. It was a good way to pass the time and helped Van Tress hold on to a goal.

With that accomplished, Van Tress watched the Tokyo Paralympics and set a new goal.

Closing in on his goal

Van Tress has been competing in road races and time trials and has competed in 15 events to this point.

It wasn’t long before he was heading to World Cup events. He went to races in Ostend, Belgium and Maniago, Italy in 2023 and this year.

He recently competed in the World Cup event in Adelaide, Australia, where he finished second in the time trial and second in the road race for the men’s H2 category.

Consistent work with his coach, Mike Durner, and acquiring a state of the art racing bike has enabled Van Tress to improve from about 15 and half miles per hour to the 20 to 23 range.

“Toward the end of the 2023 season I could really see that his skills as far as handling the bike were really improving and his fitness was really defying the ALS and improving,” Durner said.

“We went to the first World Cup and he got a couple of podiums at that event so I could see all the pieces were coming together.”

Durner has been coaching cyclists of all sorts since 2005. He works out of Colorado Springs, so he talks with Van Tress on the phone every Friday morning and Durner uses some programs and technology to create new training regimens.

Durner is able to upload data from Van Tress’ bike that includes his heart rate, power measurements and speed. He then uses a tool to analyze the information.

Van Tress had some growing pains early on but it didn’t take long for him to make the significant strides which now have him at the brink of qualifying for Paris.

“What Jeremy did have was a lot of determination and a good history of being competitive as a runner, so that was never a concern,” Durner said. “I never had to motivate him. In fact, sometimes I have to hold him back a little bit.”

Landing a spot in the Paris Paralympics is still up in the air. Van Tress said he has 48 points through World Cup selection events and is third on the ranking list with one time trial left, in Loma Linda, California, on July 7.

Van Tress said he plans to continue cycling no matter what happens with Paris this summer but he’s determined to do everything possible to make this year a successful one.

He knows that moving forward it all depends on how well his body is able to continue working.

“My wife and I are still talking about long-term plans,” he said. “Do I do this for another Paralympics cycle? I don’t know. The 2028 games are in Los Angeles so I would love to be at those games, but it’s a big commitment and it’s something my family and I will be talking about.”