As most Toronto residents were doing their best to avoid the freezing rain this weekend, T.J. Atwood was on his surfboard, riding the frigid waves at Scarborough Bluffs and the Islands.

It’s part of his quest to qualify for the Olympics Games in 2020.

The Toronto resident, who says he’s been surfing since he was a 5-year-old growing up in Maui, has had his heart set on the Games since the International Olympic Committee voted in 2016 to include surfing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

But he’ll have a few challenges to overcome before he gets there — starting with the Surf Canada Nationals in May at Wickaninnish Beach in B.C.

This competition is the primary pathway to be nominated to represent Team Canada in surfing at international events, and Atwood hopes he can win in B.C. in the long board category.

If he’s successful there, he’d still have to maintain his spot on the national team by competing in more international contests leading up to the Olympics.

“Ever since I was small, I have wished surfing could be part of the Olympics so I could compete for a gold medal. And now I have that chance … and I will not let that opportunity go,” he said.

But the competition for an Olympic spot will be steep: there will only be 40 competitors from around the world, including the top surfers from the World Surf League championship tour, the International Surfing Association’s World Surfing Games and the Pan Am Games.

No easy feat for the 36-year-old married father of three young daughters, who works as a general contractor renovating homes. Aside from the Bluffs, other spots he surfs at include Ashbridges Bay, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.

“My wife (Talia) is very forgiving and patient given all the travelling I do and the time I spend practising,” Atwood says.

His signature move is the roundhouse cutback. The manoeuver requires him to surf across a wave to the area where it isn’t breaking. He has to make a wide turn and get back to the peak and ride it out.

The move takes less than two seconds.

“I love surfing. It’s tons of fun, and there’s an adrenalin rush on the bigger waves. Plus surfing keeps you in great shape,” said Atwood, who was born in Cranbrook B.C.

He was introduced to the sport because his father, an engineer in the energy industry, was posted in Hawaii for his job when Atwood was a child.

Atwood says he’s surfed all of the islands in Hawaii, and while he was on his high school surf team he competed in California, Tahiti, Fiji, Indonesia, Australia and Japan.

It’s a sport that carries a high degree of risk. So far, the only major injury he suffered was five years ago when he fell off his board and scraped his right leg badly on a reef in Indonesia.

He didn’t think much of the gash and covered it up with tape. While in Canada, he went swimming in a river in Gatineau, Que. but the injury became infected with flesh-eating disease. He had to spend a few days in hospital where he was given medication that solved the problem and he made a full recovery.

As an amateur, he won 14 of 36 competitions, and after turning pro he captured three wins out of 15 competitions in Japan from 2006 to 2011.

Along the way, he says he’s earned up to $600,000 in prize money and endorsements.

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That money has helped because his sport isn’t cheap. A high performance board can cost $2,000 and they often break, and a wetsuit can run between $700 to $1,000.

That doesn’t include the cost of getting to competitions, accommodation and meals.

He has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for his competition in May. He hopes to raise $5,000.