Sportable’s Chris Marston Named Richmond’s Male Athlete of the Year

“I enjoy the competition. I grew up in a competitive family. Being competitive is in my nature, but I also do like showing that people that have strokes, people that have cerebral palsy or other things, that we’re capable of doing things, too.”

Sportable’s own Chris Marston was recognized as the region’s Male Athlete of the Year at the inaugural RVA Sports Awards on Saturday, February 5. Hosted by football star Tiki Barber, the event was broadcast live on CBS6 and took place at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in front of a sold out crowd.

An elite athlete with Paralympic aspirations, Chris has a form of Cerebral Palsy called Hemiplegia, which affects the right side of his body. In 2019, he was invited to attend and train at the Paratriathlon Talent Identification Camp at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. At that time, Chris had not yet trained or participated in a triathlon of any kind. He quickly signed up for his first sprint triathlon at Colonial Beach and finished 2nd in his division.

Since then, Chris has been classified as Paratriathlon Standing 3 (PTS3) by the sport’s governing body, the International Triathlon Union (ITU). He is only the second US athlete classified as PTS3 internationally. In July, he was crowned Champion at the Toyota USA Paratriathlon PTS3 National Champion in Long Beach, California with a time of 1:18:10.

Earlier this year, Chris placed second in the Upright Division at the Conquer the Canal Time Trial at the Great Dismal Swamp Trail as a member of the Sportable Road Warriors Competitive Cycling team. In 2020, he launched a campaign to raise critical funds for Sportable by completing 15 triathlons in 15 days.

Chris, his wife and two daughters live in the Richmond area. When he isn’t swimming, running or riding, he works as a bridge engineer at the Federal Highway Administration.

Organized by the Richmond Region Tourism Foundation, there were five categories of awards and the winners were decided on by public voting. Chris was up against some stiff competition from two other stellar athletes—Kickers’ Emiliano Terzaghi and former VCU hoops star Bones Hyland.

The other winners were:
Female Athlete of the Year: Keira D’Amato
Team of the Year: Patrick Henry Boys Varsity Volleyball
Coach of the Year: Marcus Lewis
Moment of the Year: PONY League baseball players make history

Congratulations to Chris and all the 2022 RVA Sports Awardees!