Cambridge’s Justin Hamilton eager to punch for MacKids, embrace hard knocks headed his way
By Jeff Hicks
WATERLOO —
A Rocky vision in tattooed technicolour bursts from between Justin Hamilton’s shoulder blades. Not an Italian Stallion ink splotch of a fictional film fighter, though.
The Cambridge-raised Champion for Charity instead wears beautiful body art of the Rocky Mountains on his back — stunning Utah scenery of his family’s usual Snowbird vacation lodge staring towards the 11,000-foot summit of Hidden Peak.
“I’m in heaven when I’m up there,” said the 38-year-old Hamilton, a financial planning firm owner who only wishes his tattoo — etched on his spine in two excruciating four-and-a-half hour sessions — was in a spot that made it easier for him to admire its tranquil vibes.
“It’s peaceful to me. In a world as crazy as ours is now, it’s the only thing I can choose to do. Go be in nature. Leave the phone at home. Just find peace.”
Vitamin N, Hamilton calls it. Being engulfed and entranced by Nature.
That’s the Waterloo resident’s happy place, with his Australian shepherd dog Daisy at his side.
Instead, on April 24 at Tapestry Hall, he’ll step into a 400-square-foot ring in the West Galt he grew up in to raise money for MacKids. Hardly the snow-covered expanse that brings him such comfort.
This isn’t the sparring he’s come to love in his three years of fitness training at Sydfit Health Centre in Kitchener. This is a real Ontario Boxing Association-sanctioned fight as 20 community leaders step into the ring for the first time to add to the million-dollar fundraising legacy of Mandy Bujold’s 4th Champions for Charity event.
Hard knocks are headed his way.
Like when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 24. The same diabetes his older brother Chris was diagnosed with in the 1980s.
“The children’s hospitals have a pretty special place in my heart,” said Hamilton, recalling how Sick Kids in Toronto treated his brother with such care and compassion.
His dad John, former owner of the Cambridge’s junior hockey team and once president of Cambridge minor hockey, could not hide a grin as he watched his son spar.
His mom Terry is more concerned that he can keep his guard up while wearing a blood sugar monitor in the ring. Hands up. Chin down. Not the other way around.
Both are proud of the cause he has embraced with the other Champions — past and present, Red Team and Blue Team.
“I kind of always took boxing as more of a lonely sport,” he said. “To see the team work together now. Everyone is behind one another. Everyone is supporting one another.”
Diabetes be damned. Vitamin N be bolstered.
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Our Champion Spotlight is brought to you by Lee Kieswetter Heavy Civil.
