2011

Three-time Paralympic Gold medalist Kurt Fearnley is among the small number of record-breakers in the City2Surf race to Bondi. He has been a regular in the event since 2011, when the Elite Wheelchair category was added to the 14km fun run to coincide with its 40th year anniversary.

Fearnley shares the race record-breakers’ honour board with Steve Moneghetti, with a personal best time of 33:11. The Elite Wheelchair category is now fixture in the City2Surf.  

Fearnley, who grew up in the central NSW town of Carcoar, population 200, has won many international marathon and other events. He took Gold at the Athens Games in 2004 and at Beijing in 2008 in the ‘T54’ category (‘competitors with full hand, arm and trunk function’ – or as Fearnley describes it ‘the mixed bag’ category). He was inducted in the New York Road Runners Hall of Fame in 2021 and was a crew member of the Sydney-to-Hobart Yacht Race winning team in 2011.

The athlete has also been recognised for his achievements off the sporting field with awards and honours that include an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2004 and an AO in 2016. Since winning the Sports Performer with a Disability Award in 2009 he has gone on to win ‘mainstream’ recognition, receiving the Sports Australia Hall of Fame (‘The Don’) Award in 2018 and the NSW Australian of the Year Award in 2019. He also served as vice-president on the International Paralympic Council in 2022.

In an impassioned acceptance speech for ‘The Don’ award, Fearnley acknowledged sport’s role in providing a ‘gateway’ for people with a disability to achieve ‘visibility’, take ownership of their body and gain acceptance. He expressed hope that ‘if sport can adjust to include those with disability, maybe our community can follow’.

Since retiring from professional racing in 2018 – after a 20-year career that included five Paralympic Games – Fearnley has become a familiar face on television, including hosting the ABC’s ‘OnePlusOne’. He uses his profile to help effect change in the perception of disability “as simply being a natural part of the human experience”.

Image courtesy Sheridan Fearnley.