Paralympian Nick Gleeson is Dungog’s Australia Day ambassador for 2017.
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Over the past 20 years, the athlete, accessibility advocate and global adventurer has built up an enviable reputation for public speaking.
Nick has that rare gift of being able to convey a serious message – that of overcoming the challenges of living with blindness – with warmth, humour and honesty.
He was born in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows in the 1960s, back when a cricket bat was a piece of wood borrowed from a fence.
Nick’s life changed forever at age seven when an electronic swinging supermarket door hit him on the side of his head, causing a retinal detachment.
His brother Maurice also became blind at the age of 13 while another, Russell, died at age 23.
He attended a boarding school for children who were blind and was one of the first of his peers to finish Year 12. Nick went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University.
Despite his academic achievements, Nick’s great passion has always been sport and adventure. He has represented Australia in athletics on three occasions, racing in America, England and Hong Kong.
He also played blind cricket (much like the traditional game, but using an audible ball) for almost 20 seasons, representing Victoria, New South Wales and Australia.
Three times Nick has crossed the finish line in the New York City Marathon, carryed the Sydney Olympic Torch, raced up the 1576 steps of the Empire State Building and completed the gruelling 90km from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in the Comrades ultra-Marathon.
Nick put together an expedition named Blind Ambition to climb Africa’s highest mountain. Four members of the expedition reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
In 2009 Nick climbed to 6000 metres on Mount Everest and with two friends in 2015 trekked in the remote Simpson Desert.
Nick describes himself as a very ordinary person who has managed to follow many of his dreams – among them marrying Heather, who is also blind, and raising two children, Peter and Belinda.
Dungog’s Australia Day celebrations will begin with breakfast at 7am on Thursday, January 26 in the James Theatre with the award presentation to begin at 8am.
