ISSUE 47 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM
OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE IS WHERE THE
Magic HAPPENS
WELL VERSED IN TRACK AND ROAD WHEELCHAIR RACING, QUEENSLAND ELITE ATHLETE AND 2020 GOLD COAST WOMAN OF THE YEAR FINALIST NATASHA PRICE TOGETHER WITH HER COACH ADAM SHEPPARD WILL LINE UP AT THIS YEAR’S NOOSA ULTRA-TRAIL TO TACKLE THE TERRAIN HARD AND FAST. IT’S BELIEVED TO BE A WORLD-FIRST FOR ADAPTIVE ATHLETES – A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE 15KM TRAIL THROUGH THE TEWANTIN NATIONAL PARK, AND KATE DZIENIS GOT THE LOWDOWN ON HOW BOTH COACH AND ATHLETE WILL APPROACH THE RACE. WORDS: KATE DZIENIS IMAGES: KATJA ANTON
Imagine waking up one morning at the age of 28 and suddenly not being able to see the room you’re in. Your heart would be racing in fright, your brain moving a million miles an hour. I simply could not fathom what would be going on in my head. And it’s something the majority of us would never even contemplate happening to our bodies, but it did happen – to UK-born Natasha Price in late 2008. In 2008, Natasha was left legally blind almost overnight, and paralysed within a month after a rare neurological disease made itself known to her, affecting her for the rest of her life – so rare, in fact, there is no name for it. Three years later, another relapse left her
completely paralysed from the neck down for several months, but since 2012 the now 42-year-old has been stable despite a decade of being bed-bound. A sudden decision one day whilst in bed though was the kickstart she needed to make positive changes, ultimately leading her to become a wheelchair athlete. “I was watching the Gold Coast Marathon on television, and said to my family that I was going to do it one day, I was going to do a marathon,” she reveals. “Everyone looked at me funny, but 12 months later in 2018 I did my first 42km and the rest is history…” Natasha has since made incredible waves as an elite para athlete, training for a number
of track events as well as road races, even recently finding podium position success at the Australian Institute of Sport including an Australian National Championships bronze medal in the 200m, an ACT State Championship silver medal in the 200m, and breaking a Queensland state record. But Natasha’s now keen to take her wheels off road, and with the help of organisers at Noosa Ultra-Trail, she and her coach Adam Sheppard will be the first to take on a modified 10km course on March 25 (2023) through the beautiful Hinterland region. With a looped course in Tewantin Forest Reserve, the terrain is 63% trail and soft surface, and 37% paved – something both Natasha and Adam are very much looking forward to. 31
