Windsor High School graduate Branden Walton hasn’t let many obstacles slow him down in a competitive running career that has spanned nearly a decade; the setbacks have just given him more determination to achieve his goals.
We caught up with Walton between online classes for Santa Rosa Junior College this week, in his final semester working toward an Associate Arts degree in Business Administration.
Diagnosed with Macular Degeneration at the age of four, Walton has vision in the range of 20/200-20/400. Since the age of 14, he’s competed in distances ranging from 100 to 1,500 meters, shattering age group records in several events on the Junior Paralympics circuit. For the past several years he’s risen through the national ranks to become one of the top runners competing in the T-13 classification.
A standout on WHS cross country and track teams before graduating in 2016, Walton won a gold and silver medal in the 800 and 1,500 meters respectively competing on the US World Junior Paralympics team in Nottwil, Switzerland in 2018, and now has his sights set firmly on a spot on the US Paralympics squad.
“The 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo were postponed until August, 2021 and my goal is to still make the US team,” he said. “I’ve got a couple of training partners that I’ve been running with, but I’d say the hardest part of this year is not being able to run in the parks and on sand (at the beach) as much as I used to.”
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has turned most lives upside down, the Windsor native has done his best to go with the flow and take it all in stride, working out several times a week with training partners Loren Gillogy and Zach Passalacqua.
Walton plans to resume competing in competitive track meets as things return to normal next year.
