Oz Day 10K Wheelchair Road Race is held on Australia Day in The Rocks, Sydney and is marquee event on the international wheelchair racing calendar, attracting prominent international and Australian athletes.
The inaugural race was held in 1990 around Centennial Park in Sydney amongst traffic travelling around the Park. [1] The inaugural race was the brainchild of Peter Trotter and Jeff Wiseman, two prominent wheelchair racers that trained at the Park. [1] Trotter a former 10 km road racing champion had competed in similar events throughout the world. [2] Their philosophy in creating the event was for disabled children to see elite wheelchair athletes in competition. [1] Sixty five athletes including sixteen international and eighteen interstate athletes competed. Australian cricketer Mike Whitney started the race and New South Wales Premier Nick Greiner and record breaking aviator Gaby Kennard presented the winners prizes which included prize money. [2] Over one thousand spectators watched the event. [2]
The race was moved to the Sydney Rocks area in 1991 and consisted of two 5 km laps. [1] Over the years, the organisers have encountered difficulties as major city roads need to be closed. [1] The race in normally held early in the morning to overcome the difficulties of road closures.
The race is supported by the Australia Day Council and Sydney City Council and managed by Wheelchair Sports NSW. [1] It is now an iconic event in Sydney on Australia Day.
Prominent international and Australian athletes have competed in the event and prize money is awarded. At the completion of the 2025 event, Kurt Fearnley and Madison de Rosario had won the race eleven times and Louise Sauvage ten times. [3] [4]
Kurt Harry Fearnley, is an Australian wheelchair racer, who has won gold medals at the Paralympic Games and crawled the Kokoda Track without a wheelchair. He has a congenital disorder called sacral agenesis which prevented fetal development of certain parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. In Paralympic events he is classified in the T54 classification. He focuses on long and middle-distance wheelchair races, and has also won medals in sprint relays. He participated in the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, finishing his Paralympic Games career with thirteen medals. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Eliza Stankovic-Mowle is an Australian wheelchair racer, who competed at Paralympic and Olympic Games. She survived meningococcal disease and plays a major role in improving the Australian community's awareness of the disease.
Alix Louise Sauvage, OAM is an Australian paralympic wheelchair racer and leading coach.
Christie Dawes is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete. She has won three medals in athletics at seven Paralympics from 1996 to 2021.
The Peachtree Road Race is a series of two 10-kilometer runs held annually in Atlanta, once during the first weekend of January and the other on Independence Day. They are held on the same course in opposite directions, similar to the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, although unlike the Comrades, the "north" (up) and "south" (down) versions are run in the same year.
Madison de Rozario, is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair racer who specialises in middle and long-distance events. She competed at the 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Paralympics, winning two gold, four silver and two bronze medals. She has also won ten medals at the World Para Athletics Championships and four gold at the Commonwealth Games. De Rozario holds the world record in the Women's 800m T53 and formerly in the Women's 1500m T53/54.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
Peter Thomas Trotter was an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racer.
Richard Nicholson is an Australian Paralympic powerlifter and athlete. He has competed at five successive Paralympic Games from the 1996 to 2012 Summer Paralympics. At the 2000 Games, he won a silver medal in the powerlifting Men's Up to 60 kg event. In athletics, at the 2004 Athens Paralympics he won a silver medal in the Men's 4 × 100 m T53–54 event and at the 2012 London Paralympics a bronze medal in the Men's 4 × 400 m T53–54 event.
Fabian John Blattman, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He became disabled after a motorbike accident. He started playing disabled bowls, before switching to athletics. As a Paralympic athletics competitor, he has set several world records and won two Paralympic gold medals.
Richard Cordukes from New South Wales is an Australian Paralympic athlete. At the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, he won a silver medal in the Men's 4x100 m Relay 1A–1C event and a bronze medal in the Men's 4x200 m Relay 1A–1C event.
Paul Wiggins is an Australian wheelchair racer.
Jake Lappin is an Australian para-athlete competing as a wheelchair racer. He represented Australia at the London 2012 Summer Paralympics and at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Rheed McCracken is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He named the 2012 Junior Athlete of the Year as part of the Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards. He represented Australia at the 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where he won three silver and three bronze medals.
Nathenial "Nath" Arkley is an Australian Paralympic track and field athlete. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, he won a bronze medal.
Wheelchair Sports NSW is the peak New South Wales sports organisation that assists people with disabilities ranging from spinal cord injury, spina bifida, amputation, paraplegia, quadriplegia to other similar disabling conditions. The organisation was established as the Paraplegic Sports Club, a section of the Paraplegic Association of NSW in October 1961. It offers a range of sports programs, facilities and financial support from beginners to Paralympians.
Australia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. Australia repeated its 2012 Summer Paralympics achievement in finishing fifth of the medal tally.
Jeff Wiseman is an Australian Paralympic athlete who has competed at two Paralympics and is a wheelchair mechanic. He has played a significant role in the development of wheelchair sport in New South Wales.
Tomoki Suzuki is a Japanese wheelchair racer, who won the 2020 and 2024 Tokyo Marathons, came second at the 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023 Tokyo Marathons, and came third at the 2017 Tokyo, 2019 and 2023 London Marathons. Suzuki and won a bronze medal in the mixed 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, and a bronze medal in the marathon T54 event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Samuel "Sam" Rizzo is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.