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After being forced to stay off the roads in his
around Australia trip due to local traffic authorities, local
rollerblading legend Andrew Kennedy was forced to spend most of his time
rollerblading around a circuit in Toowoomba and Brisbane. It was here that he completed
his mammoth 13,018km in 100 days for Teen Challenge! This is not
his official press release - that is coming soon - it is his final
Ultraskate Diary email to his support team of dedicated fans. Check the
web site for more details here.
Andrew
Kennedy writes...
Hi
everyone, Oh my gosh...I did it...can you believe it? Little old Andrew
Ken-"nerdy" from Tarragindi with his funny little rollerblades
made it to the end. Whoo Hoo!!!!
Well
obviously there's a lot to tell you guys and I don't have time to write
a novel here but let me tell you that this final week leading up to the
finish may have been the hardest week and the longest week of all on
Ultraskate.
When
I arrived at Toowoomba, It was very late on Monday morning (8:15am is
late for me) and I immediately started setting up the banner, signs,
donation bin, safety cones and warning signs. Puzzled locals looked on
with mumbles of "that isn't the guy who was here before is
it?" "He's not still going is he?".
I
finally got rolling at 9:30am (3 hours late) and managed to put in a
gutsy 125km for the day finishing at 7:30 that night.
The
next day turned ugly with rain later in the day that lasted for the next
two days. I must explain something here. The rain is my worst enemy.
When it rains, you can't skate like you normally would. You lose all
your grip and you can't push with the same force or your leg just slides
out from under you. This means you have to go slower and spend longer to
go the same distance - much more tiring. Not only this but no matter how
good your raincoat is, you still get completely wet...all the way
through. And because you're moving, you're freezing because of the wind
chill factor. And when your socks and boots are filled with water that
squelches and swills with every movement of your foot, you feel very
miserable and very alone.
For
this to happen on days 96 and 97 was shattering for me. Particularly
because the Toowoomba Track is so winding with heaps of corners and a
steep hill, I had to make extra effort to slow down. I remember during
the second day of rain, I hadn't seen a living soul in hours and hours
and it had been raining solidly all day. Fighting extreme conditions and
the ever-growing aching in my legs, I was holding back tears and had to
keep yelling at myself to keep going. I mean it, I was actually out
there all by myself...yelling. "C'mon, one more hill, one more lap,
one more corner. You've been through worse, this is nothing. Think of
your hardest memory and push through this."
It
was during this torture that my right ankle developed a strain injury
from the constant braking. This injury was barely noticeable at first
but gradually got worse until I found myself almost unable to walk after
taking my skates off on day 98. I was really worried. I took it easy and
by the next day it hadn't gotten any worse so I did a very careful 130km
and once again could hardly walk afterwards. I bandaged my ankle
overnight for support.
I
woke up on that final morning... day 100 and the ankle was the worst it
had ever been. I was really in pain. I made it to the track and set
everything up. I put on my skates...slooowwlly. And began.
My
right ankle was basically useless. I could just support my weight on it
and sometimes not even that. I resolved to push myself around the track
with my left leg alone. (A little bit like pushing a skateboard). By
10:30 and after 28km of painful hobbling I hit 13,000km...my dream.
There was no-one around to celebrate so I soaked in the moment alone and
sat in the car for a while and ate Jelly Beans as a reward.
People
started arriving later in the afternoon and I was joined by 3 other
skaters from Brisbane who regularly skated with me during Ultraskate. As
news crews arrived and a crowd gathered, I could feel the pain in my
ankle starting to ebb away. Mum had made me a Teen Challenge Flag which
I proudly flew as I went through my final laps. Kids on Bikes, Scooters
and Rollerblades started joining in the convoy until there were about a
dozen of us all wheeling around the final lap.
The
final moments were a blur, I hit the finishing ribbon. Cameras swarmed
on me and asked me silly questions like "So how does it
feel?". When they'd left me alone, I went and hugged Mum and cried
(which they filmed) and then found Rowena and cried again (which they
also filmed).
There
were speeches and presentations and a BBQ and the guys who were in the
Teen Challenge drug rehab program had come down to meet me. I spoke to
them all and everyone else.
My
feet attracted a lot of interest and the flies seemed to like them as
well. It's hard to describe the state of my feet without a picture but
I'll try. After taking off my socks. My feet were a light purple colour
and the skin had the appearance of an old person's feet. My ankles have
large calloused lumps that look like misformations and my toenails were
all black from my sweat soaked socks. The skin was covered in what
looked like flea bites. These were actually sweat pimples. I got plenty
of photos.
Well
after it all died down and everything went back to normal, I drove back
to Brisbane with Rowena and had a go of her Mum's foot spa while being
doted on hand and foot.
For
the rest of the week it's rest and relaxation at the Beach and next week
I start the Teen Challenge Training Course which I'm looking forward
to.
This
may be my last big email for a little while but thankyou everyone for
your support, encouragement, donations, practical help, congical visits
and for just being great.
I'll
be putting together a written newsletter of some kind for random and
widespread distribution and maybe even a book at some point...who knows.
(life's tough at the top... I'll get your people to call my people and
we'll do brunch, or lunch, or maybe dinner. Chow)
Luv
you all and I'm going to go and hire a pair of crutches now.
Andrew
Kennedy.
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