MEDIA RELEASE
| Sid James: the triathlon director you’d least expect … Victor Harbor’s annual Triathlon & Fun Run is an action-packed test of endurance that pushes over 600 elite athletes to their physical limits. For the triathletes (many from interstate and overseas) it’s a surprise to find that this challenging and logistically complex event is coordinated by 50-year-old Sid James. James is an ex-elite triathlete and a Victor Harbor resident – but he’s also a quadriplegic. “There’s only one bit of me that works,” he says. “And that’s my mouth.” It’s true. He talks plainly and directly, except when he’s working his computer keyboard using a device he grips between his lips. And he gets the job done.
“Last year we got 670 people competing. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get 700 this year, but we’ve got an ex-world champion taking part, Jo King.” In February 1993, aged 35, James decided to hold Victor’s first triathlon event. He was able-bodied then and recognised that the seaside town had what it takes to stage a great triathlon: “Calm waters for swimming, roads that can be closed and a run with a nice view. We had all that, and it went brilliantly, with 14 sponsors behind us and 560 entrants in the race.” Of course he entered the event himself, and he upped his weekly training regimen in preparation – 10km of swimming, 40km of cycling and 40km of running. “Only, on the day of the race, I left the house without the time clock, so I had to go back and get it. It meant I missed the start of the race – I didn’t take part in my own race.” Ordinarily, this would leave a race coordinator pretty cheesed off. But after the unqualified success of the inaugural event, James knew there’d be another Victor Harbor Triathlon… Five months later, he was cycling back from a local hospital, having just changed the nappy on his one-and-a-half day old son. “I was on a straight, quiet road near Cape Jervis. And the next thing I knew I was lying awake in the middle of the road. I honestly don’t know what happened. Maybe I hit a rabbit, a mouse, a kangaroo, I don’t know. But I landed on my head. And I came back from that same hospital as a quadriplegic.”
After three months in a spinal unit and 10 months in rehab, Sid James returned to Victor to adjust to his new life. “I’d really come undone,” he said. “But in 1995, I started thinking seriously about organizing another Triathlon. And In 1996 I went ahead and did it.” He learnt to use a computer, thought carefully about how he’d made a success of the 1993 event and began the business of attracting sponsorship, raising prize money, enlisting council assistance and registering entrants. And again, it was a success, attracting some 500 entrants. After 15 years and 14 events, the Victor Harbor Triathlon and Fun Run is bigger than ever, with some 40 sponsors headed by footwear giant ASICS, offering a total of $8,000 of cash and prizes. It’s a tragedy that after all these years, here’s an athlete who has never run in his own race. But on the day, he’ll be sitting watching the action, wearing his ‘Race Director’ shirt. “It’s funny, the athletes come around looking for the coordinator – and I’m the last person they’re expecting. Sometimes they’ll say ‘But… I didn’t know you were in a wheelchair!’ “I’ll usually respond with something cheeky…” The 2008 Victor Harbor Triathlons and Fun Run/Walk will take place on March 9. Entry forms and details from www.victorharbortriathlons.org If you would like to interview Sid James, please contact Mark Przibilla on 0417 809 194.
It will be a bittersweet moment for Dorothy Longden when she introduces six little penguins back into the wild on March 3. “They won’t look back!” she says. “When they see that great big pond out there, instinct kicks in and they’re off…”
Dorothy and Keith Longden run the Penguin Centre on Granite Island – a refuge and rehabilitation centre for birds that have been injured or abandoned. “We’re releasing six penguins: two injured birds who we’ve nursed back to health and four abandoned chicks who are now two months old.” The six will be taken from the Centre’s pond and released on the shores of Encounter Bay. Instead of being fed daily with a diet of pilchards supplemented with vitamins, they will be faced with the prospect of taking to the ocean where they will fish for themselves. To properly capture the moment, a wildlife photographer will be in – and under – the water. The birds have moulted so they’re properly waterproofed for their first foray into the seas, and they’re over a kilo in weight to give them more than a fighting chance. The birds are also micro-chipped so the Centre can identify them if the opportunity arises. But invariably – and as is proper – it’s the last contact the Longden’s have. “The penguins will come back to Granite Island to breed in two to three years time, but even though some birds have spent all their lives here, they have no ‘attachment’ to the Centre.” For Dorothy Longden it’s not quite that simple. “Yes, it’s always a bit emotional to see them go. Nuggett, for instance, has been with us for over five months. He was found by a tourist on Semaphore Beach; his leg had been mauled by a dog so we had him operated on by a vet at Adelaide Zoo… “But it’s very worthwhile. I mean, this is what we’re about – this is what we’re here for.” You are invited to witness the return of the six penguins to the wilds off Granite Island at 10am, March 3. Please contact Mark Przibilla to make arrangements. ----- Ph: 08 8551 0520 |
