Tokyo Paralympics: Children inspire local athlete’s return to competing
Albury Paralympian Eliza Ault-Connell says her children inspired her to return to the track after more than a decade on the sidelines.
Albury Wodonga
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When Albury’s Eliza Ault-Connell saw the admiration in her children’s eyes as they watched the Rio Paralympics, she knew it was time to dust off her old racing chair and get back into training.
After a ten-year hiatus, she hit the track hard.
Four years later, the work has paid off and Ault-Connell will head to the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in August next year.
“My children were watching the Rio games and they thought the ideals of the Paralympics were pretty awesome and wheelchair racing was pretty cool and they wanted to see me do a race, so that’s what started it all off again,” Ault-Connell said.
“My oldest daughter actually said to me ‘Mum you used to be so cool when you did wheelchair racing’.
“So I went to the shed and got the old racing chair out and squeezed in it, and straight away the kids were super pumped and they said ‘Mum’s going to Tokyo’.
“Their expectations were very much that Mum can do anything.”
The 39-year-old athlete went to the 2004 Paralympics in Athens where she competed in the 400m, 800m, 1500m and 5000m races.
At the Tokyo Paralympics she hopes to compete in all the events from the 100m sprint to the marathon, but said depending on the schedule, she may drop the 5000m event.
“It will have been 17 years since my last Paralympics. I’ll be competing against 17 year olds which is crazy,” she said.
“I took basically 10 years out of the sport and I never thought I’d be going back to the elite level.
“But I kept myself pretty fit because obviously movement is something I’m very passionate about.
“Being able to have a second shot at this sport thing is pretty incredible.
“As athlete 2.0, I am a far better athlete than I was the first time around.”
Ault-Connell is balancing training with her work and family life.
She currently trains six days a week with two or three sessions per day, training everything from interval sessions, sprints and starts, distance, tempo work, and middle distance.
Ault-Connell said support from the Albury-Wodonga community had been amazing.
“The community down here in Albury-Wodonga have been amazing since I said I wanted to try and qualify for the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018,” she said.
“When I’m overseas competing there are people who offer to pick the kids up from school, or drop a meal to my husband.
“It really helps to allow me to be able to do what I do.”
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Contact Cassandra at cassandra.glover@news.com.au
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