How inspiring was the recent Tokyo Paralympics? The achievements of the athletes were phenomenal, but for me, it was the stories behind those achievements which left me in awe. Their struggles, the hurdles they overcame and the sheer will to achieve a dream was simply extraordinary.
One of those athletes, Rheed McCracken, started his journey to an Olympic podium with the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. And all of us couldn’t be prouder of his achievements and, more importantly, of the wonderful young Australian he has become.
I’ve been co-hosting Sunrise on Seven for nearly 20 years, and I’m often asked who the most inspiring and fascinating people I’ve met have been over that time. It’s true that one of the great privileges of the job is the incredible people you meet – from the Dalai Lama to adventurers, Hollywood icons, rock stars, world leaders and, yes, average Australians doing extraordinary things. But most people are surprised who my top two most inspiring and fascinating people are. First, a young bloke from Bundaberg named Rheed McCracken, and then a paediatric theatre nurse named Claire Kerr from the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital who specialises in organ transplants.
I met Rheed way back in 2010 when I was on a flight to Bundaberg with the Sunrise team to broadcast the show from North Queensland. By sheer chance I was seated next to this weedy little 13 year old kid in his maroon track suit flying back home after attending an athletics camp in Brisbane for kids with disabilities.
Rheed was born with cerebral palsy. He’d put his crutches in the overhead locker, sat down, and didn’t say boo. Nothing. I have 4 (now adult) kids and 6 grandchildren (with another 2 on the way), and I love just chatting to them. They make me smile. And kids have so many stories to tell if they’re given the chance to tell them.
Anyway, I introduced myself and asked why he was going to Bundaberg. Little by little (young teenage boys aren’t generally great conversationalists), I found out he’d just started high school and had competed in discus and shot put, and had been given the opportunity to attend an athletics camp in Brisbane for kids with disabilities to see if he wanted to take it further. He didn’t sound that enthusiastic about pursuing it, and there followed another period of silence.
I asked him who his heroes were. Who he’d like to meet?
'Kurt Fearnley.'
That two-word answer started Rheed McCracken’s journey to multiple Olympic podiums. I’d interviewed wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley a number of times over the years. He’s an Australian sporting legend in the true sense of the word – an extraordinary athlete and one of the nicest human beings you will ever meet.
I’d interviewed Kurt on Sunrise a couple of months beforehand, just prior to him setting off to trek the Kokoda Track, a 96 km crossing of the mountains of Papua New Guinea and the site of the famous WW2 battle which turned back the Japanese invasion. In that 96 km, you climb and descend the equivalent of Mt Everest. I’d trekked it the year before, and it was the toughest thing I’d ever done in my life. In my interview with Kurt, I’d rashly said I didn’t reckon he would complete the Kokoda Track in the unbelievable time he’d set himself. Straight back at me, he challenged me to compete in the wheelchair race of the famous Humpty Dumpty Balmoral Burn if he did complete Kokoda.
Of course, he completed Kokoda. I knew he would; he’s Kurt Fearnley.
I then had to fulfill my part of the deal. Kurt organised an old racing chair of his, some old racing gloves and gave me a couple of lessons. Before I knew it, I was in full-on training.
So, back to my conversation with Rheed on the plane. After he said he wanted to meet Kurt Fearnley, I innocently asked whether he was interested in wheelchair racing.
'Maybe.'
So I made a deal with Rheed that I’d fly him to Sydney to meet Kurt Fearnley if he did the Humpty Dumpty Balmoral Burn with me. His eyes lit up and the deal was done. I explained that the Burn is a race up Awaba Street in the Sydney suburb of Mosman and is just 420 metres. But I sort of skipped over the fact it has a 30 per cent gradient and rises 70 metres over its length. It is a brute of a hill.
Kurt did the race in 5 minutes and 30 seconds, Rheed completed it in 25 minutes, and I struggled up in 27 minutes and 45 seconds with two people walking behind me so I wouldn’t roll back down into the harbour.
That race is now a blur, but Kurt meeting Rheed is still as clear as day and one of the great moments of my life. This Australian legend was just so encouraging and inspiring with this weedy kid from Bundaberg struggling with his cerebral palsy and coping with life.
A bit of magic happened that day at the foot of the Balmoral Burn. Kurt encouraged Rheed to take up wheelchair racing, organised a racing chair and even had him come and live with his family in Newcastle to train.
Rheed’s mum and dad reckon it changed their son’s life forever. This introverted kid struggling to cope with his disability started to do a lot better at school and would even visit other schools and speak at assemblies about living with a disability and what able-bodied kids could do to help.
Rheed is only 24 years old but has now been to 3 Paralympics and won 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. He is managed by international agency IMG, is a fashion model and has been on the cover of prestigious international fashion magazines.
Rheed's is a great story of a courageous young boy meeting his hero at the Humpty Dumpty Balmoral Burn.
By David Koch