Thank you to CAF-Idaho athlete Kevin Peter for interviewing Clay and compiling the story below, and to Clay Roscoe for sharing his journey.

Hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain represents an exceptional physical and mental accomplishment; pushing yourself in a wheelchair along the 1,100-year-old route is extraordinary.  Clay Roscoe, a life-long athlete and an active member of the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), undertook that remarkable task earlier this summer.  His week-long, 65-mile wheelchair push to the city of Santiago de Compostela ended in fulfillment and joy at the final destination, the plaza of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the western region of Galica, Spain.  As an adaptive athlete with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Clay received a grant from CAF for an all-terrain wheelchair to use on this epic journey. 

Camino de Santiago: An 1100-year-old Pilgrimage Trail

Beginning around 900 AD, the Camino developed as a route for religious pilgrims (called peregrinos) to visit the cathedral Santiago de Compostela, believed to house the remains of St. James the Apostle. Over the centuries, several Camino routes were established, ranging in length from 70 to more than 600 miles. Today, an estimated 500,000 people travel along the Camino routes for religious, cultural, personal, and recreational purposes. People have travelled the Camino for so long that portions of the trail have been worn 10 to 15 feet into ground, and the path includes a variety of surfaces ranging from pavement, cobblestones and gravel, to remnants of ancient Roman roads.  Steep inclines and descents are common, posing challenges for all travelers. 

An Accomplishment of Body and Spirit

Clay faced all these challenges along his 65-mile wheelchair journey, following the final segment of the French Route from Sarria to Santiago in northern Spain.  He was part of a 60-member group, the I’ll Push You Accessible Camino, which included seven travelers in wheelchairs. With steep inclines and descents, ruts, rocks, upturned flagstones and large stepdowns, the official  guide to this segment of the French route emphasizes it is not consistently accessible to wheelchair users.  Clay pushed himself through large portions of this difficult terrain, while members of the group assisted all the wheelchair users, especially on steep sections. Over the week on the Camino, Clay and his compatriots averaged 12 to 15 miles daily, with each day offering many opportunities to immerse oneself in the history of the region. 

In his chair for up to 12 hours each day, traveling along the Camino proved to be a physically demanding and mentally humbling experience, though Clay demonstrated both a physical and mental toughness that he had earned through an adventurous life.  Clay started the Camino feeling the effects of an old shoulder injury “that thankfully just went away after a day or two” despite the nonstop pushing of his chair on challenging, variable terrain. One of his greatest physical challenges was waking up stiff and sore from the previous day’s effort, but once on the trail, and after much very good Spanish coffee, all soreness quickly faded as the team set out for the day together. 

As an independent adaptive athlete, Clay initially noted needing to navigate when and how to request assistance, especially up or down slopes and over difficult terrain, which was absolutely critical. The journey was the goal, and every member of the Accessible Camino gained fulfillment by acting as a team aiding one another. Many of the other wheelchair users in the group also were accomplished athletes, and Clay remarked that “several could move their chairs in ways I could only dream of doing only after years of practice.” 

With MS, hot weather poses problems, often rapidly and dramatically increasing fatigue and muscle weakness. The team encountered high temperatures along the route on the last day of the trek, and for Clay the final day proved to be the most challenging and required the longest time to recover.  

Clay highlighted that interactions with other group members and with other peregrinos on the Camino was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his journey.  He knew very few members of his group until the trip started, but the camaraderie gained through the common arduous effort was almost instantaneous.  The assistance the adaptive athletes received on difficult sections of the trail reflected a tremendous group effort and, for Clay, was “a new experience and a way of moving forward collectively. Letting others push me did not take away from my experience, it added to it … I learned a lot about myself through the process of letting go on the Camino and letting others assist me.”