Media Release
Awesome foursome overcomes the odds
Friday 25 November 2005
You’ve got to take your hat off to Sarah Lewis, Kassidy Shaw, Zionel Leering, and Nadine Anthony.
Each member of the awesome foursome has overcome the tyranny of distance and a lack of equipment to qualify for the Territory’s disabled athletics team at the Pacific School Games in Melbourne from 26 November to 4 December.
Sarah Lewis lives at Timber Creek west of Katherine where she has been using a rock to train for the shot put. The 12-year-old will also compete in the 100m, 200m, 800m, long jump and relay events.
Team official Marg Chamberlain said Sarah showed her class at a school sports carnival recently where she ran barefoot in the dirt and the dust on the (horse) racetrack at Timber Creek.
Nadine Anthony is another with a full program. The shy but courageous 11-year-old from Amanbidji, 450km west of Katherine , showed her enormous potential by collecting a swag of gold medals at the 2005 NT Athletics championships in Darwin in August .
“Nadine may be timid but she can run like the wind and she’ll run her little heart out in Melbourne,” Ms Chamberlain said.
Zionel Leering also hails from Amanbidji near the WA border. The 11-year-old cerebral palsy athlete has qualified for the shot put and a host of relay and medley events. He will derive some strength from fellow 11-year-old Kassidy Shaw, who lives in remote Yarralin, about 380km southwest of Katherine. Kassidy’s strengths are in the 800m and the long jump. He will also take part in team relays.
Fourteen Territorians have qualified for this year’s track and field team for athletes with a disability – 12 of whom have intellectual disabilities, and two with functional (physical) disabilities.
Ms Chamberlain said each athlete would give 100 per cent.
“It will be quite an achievement just to get them to the Games and the experience will have long-term benefits for each individual,” she said.