Brian Froggatt has been seemingly breaking athletic records his whole life and the 61-year-old shows no signs of slowing down.
Froggatt, a two-time Paralympian and world-record breaker from Dargaville, was born with no femur in an underdeveloped left leg – amputated when he was three - and found his calling in a damp and dingy basement as a teenager.
"I was always interested in improving myself physically. Not being able to run, that sort of limited me a bit, but then I discovered that a neighbour had a set of weights in his basement, so I asked him if I could use those. I was 13 at the time and he showed me a couple of exercises and that was it, I was off."
The athletics-obsessed Froggatt competed in a range of disciplines as a teenager before being selected to represent New Zealand in the 1980 Arnhem Paralympics in the pentathlon.
Froggatt describes that experience as one of the greatest of his life, partly due to an incredible performance in the event.
"To do a personal best and New Zealand record, that was almost as good as winning a medal."
Next stop for Froggatt was a world record, and it all came about from the courage to reach out to his heroes.
In 1976, Dick Traum became the first runner with a prosthetic to complete the New York City marathon and Froggatt just had to talk to him.
"We all watched the New York City marathon early on a Sunday morning. That inspired me to get running.
"I saw an above-knee amputee finishing the marathon, his name was Dick Traum and I managed to get in touch with him and he invited me to come over and run the New York City marathon, so I said 'wow'."
What followed was a remarkable performance from Froggatt that turned him into Northland's own version of Traum.
"Finally finished in five hours and eight minutes which was an 1hr44m quicker than the previous-best time that Dick Traum held. I had my results in the local paper and everyone thought I was a hero."
Froggatt broke his own world record the following year before he set his lofty sights on his next goal - another Paralympics.
At the 1980 Games, Froggatt had watched on amazed at the powerlifting event where he realised his personal best would have been enough to earn him a bronze medal. The powerlifting was not a priority event for him in 1980, but in 1992 a renewed focus on the weights saw him travel to Barcelona for his second Paralympic competition.
While this time his best saw him finish eighth in the world, Froggatt's journey there continued and renewed his life-long love of weightlifting.
Froggatt has spent the past 28 years running Brian's Gym & Fitness Centre in Dargaville and he's won gold medals twice at world level in the bench press.
To say he's an inspiration would not do justice to his story and example of fiercely active living, a commitment he has made to himself for life.
"A lot of people have said that I've inspired them. So far I haven't inspired anyone to squat or deadlift on one leg.
"I just can't consider not training and not competing until I absolutely can't. If it's impossible, you find another way to do it."
Toyota is a major partner of Paralympics New Zealand, helping Kiwis to 'Start Your Impossible'.