Not even the loss of a limb.
Barbieri had to have his left leg amputated just above the knee after breaking his femur and suffering serious damage to his femoral artery in a snowboard accident at Mammoth Mountain this past winter.
Andre Barbieri is still doing many of the things he enjoys despite losing his lower left leg in a snowboarding accident last winter. He finished second in the Reef and Run 1-mile swim on Tuesday night. (Photos by Randy Weiss)
Yet, there he was on late Tuesday afternoon, lined up along the shore with the other competitors ready to do the 1-mile swim at the weekly Reef and Run Series.
Barbieri not only completed the swim, he finished in second place in 22 minutes, 17 seconds. Prior to the swim, he joined members of the Dos Pueblos boys water polo team to do pushups on the beach.
An avid surfer, the 30-year-old native of Brazil has worked himself back into good physical shape and is full of energy and enthusiasm — there is a video of him riding a bike along the beach in Santa Barbara.
Barbieri was joined at Reef and Run by Para-Olympics pioneer Jim Beeson and Challenge Athletes supporter Marcella Young.
Devin Dierenfield won the mile swim in 17:34.
The 1k swim was dominated by the DP Chargers, with Nicolas Lum taking first in 15:55 and teammate Grant Schroeder finishing second in 16:05. Local triathlete Whitney Bruice nabbed third and was the top woman finisher in 17:36. DP assistant coach Kevin Kuga was fourth in 17:45.
Bruice also was the first female in the duathlon (1k swim, 5k run) in 45:22.
Schroeder (39:44) and Lum (44:01) went 1-2 in the duathlon.
