Hunter Woodhall, a double amputee track star from Syracuse, Utah, is missing his running blades after riding a subway train in New York City on Saturday, July 18.
The Ossur brand blades were taken from a bag in the overhead compartment of a train as Woodhall traveled with his mother from Connecticut to New York City to compete in the National Junior Disability Championships this week. He was also planning to compete in the Para Pan Am Championships in Toronto on August 5 before the theft.
On the day of the incident, Woodhall says he helped an elderly couple with their luggage before going back to grab his own bag. Once he left the station, he soon realized the prosthetics were missing.
The train station attendants do not sort through lost and found items until Mondays, so there was hope carrying Woodhall through the weekend.
"We still don't have a lot of information," Woodhall said this morning. "We're still looking, we're trying. We should know by this afternoon if they'll be recovered or not. [Then] either raise the money or start to get some new ones made for Para Pan Ams."
The cost to make a new pair of running blades runs between 15 and 30k and takes one to two weeks.
The kicker with the theft is that while these medical devices are expensive, they are not possible to resell because they are custom-made unless stolen for parts.
Woodhall is a top-ranked 400m sprinter in the world for his division with a personal best of 49.15.
Hunter Woodhall, a double amputee track star from Syracuse, Utah, is missing his running blades after riding a subway train in New York City on Saturday, July 18.
The Ossur brand blades were taken from a bag in the overhead compartment of a train as Woodhall traveled with his mother from Connecticut to New York City to compete in the National Junior Disability Championships this week. He was also planning to compete in the Para Pan Am Championships in Toronto on August 5 before the theft.
