Club of Masters: Charity tournament favored by yachtsman Mario Graus
The Club of Masters organized a charity golf tournament in Kössen last weekend, supported by the sailing athlete Mario Graus. Since a hang-gliding accident in Gnadenwald, Milser has been dependent on a wheelchair. That did not prevent him from becoming Austrian Vice Champion in sailing. A check for 17,000 euros enables the purchase of a training handbike.
INNSBRUCK/KOSSEN. Marios Graus plays with the wind. After an accident while hang-gliding in 2017 in Gnadenwald, he had to turn his life around. On the landing approach, which he had always mastered many times before, a gust suddenly hit him. He fell. In addition to numerous broken bones, the impact also ruptured the fifth thoracic vertebra. The devastating diagnosis: paraplegia. “I was lucky, if you can put it that way, because I can move my arms,” says Graus. The passionate tourer, skier, cyclist, paraglider, windsurfer and kitesurfer had to change his life from one day to the next. After two months in the clinic and four more in rehab in Bad Häring, winter was suddenly nothing to look forward to. “You’re sitting there, there’s snow outside and it’s difficult for you to get out in a wheelchair. That was definitely the hardest time back then,” explains Graus. But he is slowly coming out of his low again. With the help of friends and family, he monoskis and plays table tennis, but is particularly fond of sailing. “I already had the license, because playing with the wind is just good for me,” he says. With trainer Reinhard Glanz he undertakes the first attempts in the smallest racing yacht in the world, as the 2nd 4mR class is also called. It works so well that his trainer persuades him to start at the Austrian championship. Actually, he just wanted to get through, in the end he achieved the runner-up title.
Club of Masters
As part of the Club of Masters charity golf tournament, Graus was presented with a check for 17,000 euros over the weekend. The money will be used to purchase a suitable hand bike that WILL support Graus’ in his daily training sessions. Austria’s sailing ace Nico Delle Karth was also present at the charity event and carried out the symbolic check handover. The proud sum could be achieved through the expenses of well-known German and Austrian athletes, friends and sponsors.
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