Paraplegic racer Anthony Radetic returns once again to Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix

Anthony Radetic was initially hesitant about trying to ride a personal watercraft. He had tried a wide array of adaptive sports since a motorcycle accident in 2004 robbed him of mobility in his legs.

As an alpine skier, he was part of the United States National Paralympic Committee’s development team in Aspen, Colo. As a cyclist, he still meets the United States’ Paralympic standard. He competed in the Warrior Games and Invictus Games, but nothing could quite fill the void left by his inability to ride his beloved motorcycles.

About seven years ago, as Radetic was retiring from a decade in the military, Danielle Radetic, Anthony’s wife, had an idea. She had grown up on the lakes and rivers of Alabama and thought a personal watercraft could be Radetic’s replacement. They took the idea to his doctor.

“Absolutely not,” Radetic remembers the doctor saying. “That’s going to hurt your back.”

“Yada, yada,” Radetic said Friday inside the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, where he signed autographs as part of a public meet-and-greet session with racers ahead of the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix. “As soon as he said that, I said, ‘Let’s go look for one on Craigslist.”

It took a few years for him to move from monthly runs on lakes and rivers to competitive runs out in the ocean, but Radetic has been competing for four years and will race in the P1 AquaX division of the Sarasota Grand Prix on Saturday and Sunday off the coast of Lido Key. The division’s first race is Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and finals are scheduled to start Sunday at 9:15 a.m.

In the years since he began personal watercraft (PWC) racing, his interest in the other adaptive sports has faded. It’s a chance for him to compete against fully able-bodied racers and really compete. He was the AquaX athlete of the year as a rookie in 2015 and started his 2017 season strong with a sixth-place finish in St. Pete Beach earlier this month.

“Water is the perfect equalizer,” Radetic said. “All I have to do is really just hold on and stay on the ski, and follow everyone else.”

Before his motorcycle accident sent his athletic and military careers into a period of tumult, Radetic was a helicopter pilot bouncing around different military bases while keeping in shape through a variety of sports.

As a child in Daytona Beach, Radetic was a sailor and swimmer, although that was the extent of his experience racing. He road dirt bikes and motorcycles as a hobby.

In 2004, Radetic was stationed at Fort Rucker in Alabama when a car pulled out in front of him while he was riding his motorcycle. Radetic flipped over the front of the car and the impact left him paralyzed from the waist down.

The accident took him from the cockpit of his helicopters to the ground, where he served as a security officer until retiring in 2010. His injuries forced him to try a host of new, modified sports.

“He tried a lot of other sports — like a lot of other sports,” Danielle Radetic said, “and when he found Jet Skiing he was able to focus on one.”

It started as a monthly diversion, a weekend trip to a lake where he could take his PWC out on the water for a few hours. Eventually, the family moved to Abbeville, Ala. — which they still call home — on Walter F. George Lake, where Radetic’s monthly rides became an every weekend and then every day activity.

His competitive breakthrough came in 2013. Radetic had worked his way up to riding on the ocean, and in September of that year he set off for a 1,600-mile, week-long journey. He took off with his Sea-Doo, which had sponsored him, from Key West and rode all the way to New York as part the Never Quit Challenge. Two years later, he found his way to Sarasota for the first time during his rookie season as a professional on the AquaX tour.

The now-annual trip to the region is one of the standout events on the AquaX calendar for Radetic. He has been partnered with Operation Second Chance, a national charity raising money for wounded or ill veterans that has a presence in Sarasota, and spends the days around the races meeting with veterans or even children dealing with disabilities.

The results on the water are important, but riding these PWCs was never planned to be something he’d do professionally. He’s happy just to have a passion after his accident and a pathway to continue serving his communities.

“I get guys coming up to me asking how I do it,” Radetic said. “‘Ahh, I want to try this. I want to try riding a dirt bike.’ In reality, everything’s possible if you set your mind to it.”

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Paraplegic racer Anthony Radetic returns once again to Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix."