From his first primary school cross country race, to the start line at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Archie Hewett’s path to representing Australia has demanded everything he has.
Sport
A whole lot of talent, training and perhaps some help from her lucky number has taken Mornington long jumper, Geena Davy, all the way to the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, after she sealed her spot on the Australian team with a qualifying jump of 6.27 metres.
Mount Eliza competitive cyclist, Bizzy Butterworth is at one with the world when she’s on two wheels. “I’m a very visual person. When I’m riding I love to see the changing light, the hues of green in the leaves. I love the smells. I love to breathe it all in”.
Paralympic gold medallist Heath Davidson has one of the most remarkable comeback stories in Australian sport. After abandoning wheelchair tennis for 11 years, he returned to the court at the age of 28 and won gold at the Rio Paralympics just 11 months later.
Melissa Warren is not one to be told she can’t do something. “There is this incorrect perception that sailing is unobtainable, or inaccessible, but nothing is further from the truth,” said Melissa. “You don’t need a large budget; you just have to have passion.”
18 year old Lana Schulenburg is a Miss Teen Galaxy Australia National Finalist, a show-jumper with Olympic dreams, and the founder of youth empowerment platform Elevate U. Her 1,500-plus hours of community service barely scratch the surface of a schedule that would exhaust most adults.
Five years ago, Andrew Bryan was lying in a hospital bed, having hit what he calls ‘rock bottom’. Today, from his garage gym in Mount Martha, he’s changing the lives of fathers and sons who are struggling to connect in a world that seems designed to keep them apart.
Jason Vaux doesn’t live on the Mornington Peninsula, but for the past two years, it’s become his second home. Three times a week, the 33-year-old makes the 25-minute drive from Berwick to join a community that’s helped transform his life – the Olivers Hill Run Club in Frankston.
Dawn Nelson-Furnell OAM first picked up a bow at 12 years old, following her father’s footsteps into the world of archery. Back then, she was unaware of the legacy she would leave on the sport.