Champion spirit infectious

Champion wheelchair athlete Kurt Fearnley is pictured with Braemar College students (from left) Rochelle Kennedy, Georgia Orr, Harrison Vercoe and Indi Cooper. Photo: Chris Fleming

Braemar College students were thrilled last week when they had an opportunity to attend a presentation by champion wheelchair athlete Kurt Fearnley.
Being born without the lower portion of his spine has never held Kurt back, from backyard games of football to crawling along the Great Wall of China, he always has a go.
Turning his attention to wheelchair sports in his teens, Kurt became a world beater. He started his career with two silver medals at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic games, before making his winning breakthrough at the Athens Paralympics with gold in the 5000m and marathon races. Following the 2004 games, Kurt conquered the world, winning five world championships and more than 20 marathons around the globe, including 10 marathons in 2007 and three straight New York marathon titles. He solidified his standing as the Marathon Man of wheelchair sports by defending his gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics and continues to dominate over a range of distances on both the track and road.
Kurt represents a number of organisations and is an ambassador of the Day of Difference Foundation and International Day of People with a Disability, and a board member of Australian Volunteers International. He is an inspirational man and a wonderful speaker, who connected with his young audience and students were appreciative of the opportunity to ask questions.
Kurt's talk resonated with the year sevens in particular, as they had recently completed a
In an email to the principal, one year seven student articulated what he and his peers had learnt from Kurt's talk:
1. Never give up
2. Try hard
3. Everyone is resilient
4. Believe in yourself
5. You are capable of anything
6. Believe
7. Fear and pity are your enemy
College staff thanked Kurt for making the time to visit their students.
unit on disability and diversity which included some Middle School students being involved in their own 'disability games'.