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This ripped trans athlete just won TV’s biggest climbing competition (and plenty of hearts along the way)
They couldn't have picked a cuter winner.
With nothing but finger strength and some “cat”-like reflexes, trans athlete Cat Runner has won the ultimate amateur climbing competition (and plenty of hearts along the way).
Jason Momoa’s new HBO Max series The Climb set out to push a diverse cast of amateur climbers to their limits. With the smallest stature of the bunch, Runner came to rise above the rest of his competitors — literally. Not only did he win the competition, but he also took home a cute cash tip of $100,000 and a year-long $100,000 prAna sponsorship.
Even before winning, Runner was well aware of how impactful his visibility as a trans athlete would be for the show in this cultural moment where trans people are under immense legislative and social fire, especially in sports.
“Conversations regarding race, queerness, transness, whatever, it needs to exist in the climbing community because I exist in the climbing community,” he tells the Louisville Courier Journal. “That’s part of my life; I want to talk about it.”
(@catlikeacat)“Figuring out how to navigate the world as this other person where I feel comfortable and confident and doing that in the climbing space, where I found myself as a climber—they merge together,” he tells Outside Online. “It’s very special. I never feel more at peace with myself and so grounded and aligned.”
His desire to speak to his experience and those like his led him to create the Queer Climbers Network, an online community which also operates a Queer and Trans Climbing Club out of his local rock climbing gym.
Now, he’s got a whole new audience and a thick chunk of change to help put towards his outreach and activism. When he’s not out on the rock, of course!
And as far as that prAna deal goes, they couldn’t have picked a cuter spokesperson:
If you still haven’t, check out the trailer for HBO Max’s The Climb:
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