Over winter break, twin brothers Justin Callahan ’26 and Mitchell Callahan ’26 sailed to victory within the 2024 Snipe Junior World Championship.
“In our household we’ve got a motto,” Justin stated. “‘One plus one equals three.’ Once you put two of us in a ship collectively, we really feel unstoppable.”
Solely two different American groups have gained the five-day Snipe competitors, which is predicated within the Callahans’ hometown of Miami and this 12 months drew an extra-competitive subject: 46 groups representing 19 nations. Cheering the Harvard Crusing twins via gusty situations was their father, Paul Callahan ’80, M.B.A. ’92, a Paralympian whose instance has been a lifelong inspiration for his boys.
Callahan twins crusing within the 2024 Snipe Junior World Championship in Miami.
Credit score: Lexi Pline Photographer
“From after we had been 2 years outdated, he taught us that there isn’t a such phrase as can’t,” Justin stated. “He confirmed us that the thoughts is the strongest factor that we’ve got.”
Paul has been a quadriplegic for greater than 40 years, after slipping on a moist flooring and breaking his neck throughout his junior 12 months of Faculty. The harm didn’t forestall him from quickly taking a second, extra severe shot at crusing.
“I sailed a bit as a baby,” Paul recalled. “However I used to be actually launched to crusing by an opportunity assembly with an ex-Marine who was a crusing teacher in Newport. I loved it a lot that I began competing shortly after. It’s the final problem as a result of there are such a lot of variables that it’s important to account for.”
As Paul’s dedication to the game grew, so did his talent stage. He certified for the 2000 Sydney Summer time Paralympics and the 2012 London Summer time Paralympics. When not coaching or competing, he labored full-time within the nonprofit sector, together with because the founding father of Newport, R.I.-based Sail to Prevail, and helped increase his household. In the present day, he by no means misses a chance to see the twins compete.
“It’s a dad or mum’s dream to see your youngsters get alongside so effectively collectively, set a objective collectively, and achieve a objective collectively,” stated Paul, who will go to Cambridge this week and in Might to observe Justin and Mitchell sail within the ICSA Nationwide Championships.
The state of affairs is a poignant reversal from just some years in the past, when the boys had been the spectators and their father’s love of the game instilled the identical in them.
“It was wonderful watching him get out of his wheelchair onto the boat,” Mitchell stated. “From after we had been born, Justin and I noticed that no impediment can get in the best way of your ardour.”
His brother feels the identical gratitude.
“I can’t be extra grateful for the childhood we got,” Justin stated. “When you have got a quadriplegic father, that already teaches you a lot about kindness, compassion, caring for others, not pondering of your self first.”
