Melanie Barnes
Castlemaine resident, Sharnie Digby will be completing the Nike Wheelchair Marathon this Sunday October 2 in her new race chair and is ready to crack her best time.
The Mail caught up with Sharnie last week to talk about her achievements. This will be her 6th marathon, and 3rd marathon this year. Sharnie wants to inspire others to join wheelchair marathons and noted that hardly anyone in wheelchairs participate in these events in Australia.
Sharnie became sick in 1999 with a neurological condition that put her in a wheelchair in 2002. She didn’t do a lot of running prior to her diagnosis being an avid swimmer.
“I made a complete change with the direction of my life once I was in the wheelchair,” she said.
Sharnie started out in her regular chair using a ‘freewheel’ before taking to a race chair. She recently completed two marathons and a half marathon in just two weeks!
“My friends started a ‘Go Fund Me’ page and I was amazed at how quickly funds were raised to purchase my racing chair,” she said.
The new chair has shaved off hours from her personal best in competitions and she can’t wait to compete in the race chair category for the first time at Melbourne this weekend.
“I share the love of marathons with my brother who runs, and I recently beat him in my new chair,” she says proudly.
“We travel to the US to compete in the ‘Disney Marathon'”.
They compete together in the ‘Dopey Challenge’ which is a total of 48.6 miles run around the Disney theme parks and is open to all who want to be in it.
Her training involves gym sessions and stretches as well as getting out in her chair. Sadly Sharnie has to travel to Bendigo to train on a decent sports ground that caters for wheelchairs.
“There are still a lot of changes that need to be made for people in wheelchairs,” she said.
“Local walking tracks such as the rail trails are quite rough and not suitable for chairs”.
Sharnie wants to see more people in chairs participating in marathons and says that the US is well ahead of us with a large social network of wheelchair marathon participants over there, who she keeps in touch with.
“I was one of only two competitors which competed in the Melbourne Marathon in a wheelchair last year. It would be fantastic to see more people like me getting out there and having a go,” she said.
In her spare time, Sharnie has been helping local animal welfare shelter Mount Alexander Animal Welfare (MAAW) by volunteering at the op shop to raise money for animals in the area. She is also kept busy with her gorgeous dog who is the ‘Dulux’ paint dog which can be seen in the Dulux advertisements.
The Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival is open to everybody from beginners to elite runners looking to achieve a personal best.
In 2021, participants and supporters raised over $1.2 million for more than 162 deserving charities and causes across the country including this year’s premier charity partner, the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre (CPEC).
For more information or to register visit melbournemarathon.com.au