Elijah Palmer: Never Give Up

This blog post was first published on The Dignity Project in February 2021.

Elijah Palmer, Gold Coast Young Citizen of the Year Winner (2021), up-and-coming and inspiring wheelchair athlete.

Born with various physical and intellectual challenges, including (but not limited to): spina bifida, intellectual impairment, autism, lower limb paralysis, in addition to enduring 30-40 operations from birth to get him to his functioning abilities today, Elijah does not let challenges define or stop him. Instead, he chooses to live by the mantra … ‘Never give up’. Elijah’s bravery and determination not to let anything get him down or stop him achieving his dreams and goals is especially humbling, particularly after the challenges many of us endured in 2020.

Elijah has strong views on dignity and what it means to him – and despite his disability, he is very independent, capable and can do almost everything for himself. His pet hate… when people don’t talk to him directly and talk to his companion instead.

Elijah lives and breathes sport, and participating, has brought him so many benefits. In particular, sport has helped Elijah shape his identity as a fighter and a winner, as well as connecting him to the community. From a young age, he got involved early by trying out a variety of different activities. His first teacher, Miss Sally at Mudgeeraba State Special School introduced him to swimming, and since then he has become a strong and keen swimmer. This can provide a bit of surprise for patrons at pools, who would witness him leap out of his wheelchair and dive into the pool.

After trying many other sports, Elijah found his niche in wheelchair racing. Under the watchful eye of his coach and support worker Garth Plank from Mentor 4 Me, a disability support group – Elijah has gone from strength to strength. Garth is a former elite junior athlete who has represented Australia and has coached a variety of sports over the last 20 years, and it is with this experience that he has been able to assist Elijah to create and reach new goals every year.

Elijah started training in his wheelchair, doing sprints with progression to longer distances. His first public event was the 5km race at the 2014 Gold Coast Marathon. Elijah became addicted to the cheers and public adoration and used this as fuel to fan the flames of his training regime. The next year at age 13, he competed in his first wheelchair event in the 4km Junior Dash at the Gold Coast marathon in his day chair. For this event Elijah trained once every fortnight for 8 weeks. The following year again, Elijah did the Junior dash and bettered his time by 14 minutes. This was after training once a week for 6 months. Again, in his day chair.

A little over 2 years ago Elijah received his first race chair for Christmas, which was sourced heavily discounted, from Melbourne businessman Michael De Santo. Michael De Santo also generously donated wheelchair rollers, which convert his racing wheelchair into a stationary wheelchair.

Elijah has many friends, mentors and idols who he looks up too, including, Paralympian Kurt Fearnley, who he has met several times at events, including the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Garth has also connected him with local Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Representative, Sara-Ashlee Tait, who has assisted in mentoring Elijah and providing coaching tips.

From this point, the pair embarked on a new challenge, which was to learn how to manoeuvre and use the new racing chair. Elijah had only been in a day chair for 2 years, so he had limited muscle through his core and upper body, leading to months of troubleshooting to work out how Elijah was actually going to be able to push in the chair, particularly since Elijah’s hands face inward on a right angle. Elijah and Garth had to try dozens of strategies to work out what to use as gloves and what technique might work to be able to get him around the track. To make this task easier, the pair recently relocated their training to Griffith University, one of the only gyms willing to accept him. Being welcomed so warmly has been a turning point, which has led to Ellie Camilleri from ‘4 Fitz Sake’ and many others. Elijah is now being recognised around the gym and is excited to be connecting with other athletes.

As for the future, Elijah has many goals. In 2021, Garth in conjunction with Ignition Athletics Club, will start a program to facilitate wheelchair racing and para-athletics for children and adults in the Gold Coast and SE Qld region, and Elijah is keen to assist other young people to have the same opportunities that he has. As for sporting goals, Elijah was due to be competing at the wheelchair racing event Summer Down Under at the Australian Institute of Sport (A.I.S) this month. Here athletes will be competing to qualify for the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. This event caters for both junior and senior wheelchair athletes, and Elijah will be competing in at least 7 races over the 3 days, with goals to set multiple personal bests (PB’s) during the event. There will also be mentoring sessions with elite athletes and coaches for new and junior athletes looking to compete for Australia. At the time of writing, and due to Covid 19, this event has been postponed.

Other goals for this year is to make the Qld Schools team to compete at the Australian Schools Championships and to compete in the 15km wheelchair race at the Gold Coast Marathon.

To follow Elijah’s journey or to find out more, contact:

Claire Burton: claireadeleburton@outlook.com T: 0408 760 872

Garth Plank: mentor4me2@gmail.com

For other inspiring sports for children and young adults with mobility challenges see
“Race Runner” https://m.facebook.com/7NEWSGoldCoast/videos/230164045243516/