It’s a career that started playfully along the dirt tracks of Ramingining in the Northern Territory’s remote Arnhem Land, but now Briseis Brittain is steely focused as she steps out onto international tracks.<\/p>\n
The 17-year-old runs because it feels “fun and free”, and now she’s representing Australia at the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, India.<\/p>\n
“I am so excited to represent Australia \u2026 racing against people in different countries,” Briseis says.<\/p>\n
Shoulders back, chin high, Briseis beams as she steps out in green and gold.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Briseis Brittain is excited to be representing Australia at the world championships in New Delhi. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n
It’s the first time she’s left Australia, and the international debut also marks a milestone for her community.<\/p>\n
“I am the first Arnhem Land woman from Ramingining and Maningrida [to compete at this level], and I am going to make proud my people and my culture,” Briseis says.<\/p>\n
It’s a passion fuelled by the success of Cathy Freeman, an Aboriginal Olympian cloaked in glory after taking gold in the 400 metres at the Sydney 2000 games.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cathy Freeman celebrating her gold medal win in the 400m race at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. (AAP: Dean Lewis)<\/p>\n
“Cathy Freeman was my favourite athlete, she was really amazing and talented, I want to be like her,” Briseis explains.<\/p>\n
“It was my dream since I was little.”<\/p>\n
Invested in making that dream a reality, Briseis’s family relocated to the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.<\/p>\n
Briseis’s mother Marcey Garrawurra says she always knew her daughter had what it took to make it to the world stage.<\/p>\n
“There’s lots of talented kids from Arnhem Land but it’s just there’s not much [athletics] opportunities there \u2014 that’s why I came to Darwin,” Ms Garrawurra says.<\/p>\n
“I am always proud watching her run.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Marcey Garrawurra (right) says she’s proud to see her daughter Briseis Brittain (left) competing on the world stage. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n
Remote Arnhem Land is now abuzz, with family preparing to get online and watch Briseis run against the world’s best para athletes in New Delhi.<\/p>\n
“It’s really, really, really special for me and my family that she is going to represent Australia and our family,” Ms Garrawurra says.<\/p>\n
“It’s what I want for her.”<\/p>\n
Going neck-and-neck with the world’s best has its hurdles when you live in Darwin, a capital city that is geographically isolated and has a population of just over 150,000 people.<\/p>\n
There aren’t enough para athletes in the city to have a standalone competition, so Briseis has been racing against peers without disabilities.<\/p>\n
To refine her “powerful” running style, coach Roger Chin has employed AI, sending videos of her sprints to an interstate company for movement analysis and correction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Roger Chin says competing in New Delhi will be a unique experience and new challenge for Briseis Brittain. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n
“She is a raw runner, she uses a lot of power when she does run and she never gives up,” Chin says.<\/p>\n
The coach notes that racing in a huge international contest will be a significant test for Briseis.<\/p>\n
“[It’s a] new environment, new country, new people, new cultures \u2014 the pressures put on her will be quite high,” Chin says.<\/p>\n
For many of these athletes, success at the games won’t be measured in medals. They instead hope the competition can help prepare them for the ultimate goal of competing at the Paralympics in LA in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Briseis Brittain will be competing with other para atheltes from all around the world. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n
Stephen Caddy is the head of the Para Program at Australian Athletics’s high-performance department.<\/p>\n
He’s been preparing the Australian para athletes squad in Dubai, running mock races and getting the team acclimatised to tropical conditions, with much of the team having flown in from a southern winter.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got a number of other nations staging there with us \u2014 the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain and Canada,” Caddy says.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, with the para team, we have to move a lot of staff with a lot of athletes for support purposes, so it’ll be a wave and staggered approach into New Delhi.”<\/p>\n
Briseis Brittain is now with the squad preparing in New Delhi.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got Briseis Brittain who will be competing in the 200 and 400m,” Caddy says.<\/p>\n
“[She] is in the T-38 class, for athletes with minimum impairments but with motor impairments.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Briseis Brittain has been working closely with her coach Roger Chin to prepare for the world championships. (Supplied.)<\/p>\n
With 51 team members, this year’s Australian para squad is the biggest since the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n
Caddy says these are the para athletes who will shape the nation’s sporting future.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got a massive team, it’s our second largest world championships team ever that we’ve taken for para athletics,” Mr Caddy says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Briseis’s qualification from far-flung Darwin is an exciting opportunity for the Australian team.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been operating teams for about 10 years, I can’t remember the last time, or if in my time, there’s been a Northern Territory athlete on our para team,” Caddy says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Briseis Brittain is the first Arnhem Land woman from Ramingining and Maningrida to compete in a world athletics championship. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n
He says unprecedented federal government funding is helping to build and prepare Australia’s para sport movement.<\/p>\n
Almost $55 million will be used to help athletes like Briseis overcome barriers to developing and competing, through the Para Uplift sport program.<\/p>\n
“It’s great to see some opportunities present in that region,” Caddy says of the NT.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We know that area produces some great athletes, it’s only a matter of time before we start recognising the potential in the para athletic space or para sport space as well.”<\/p>\n
The World Para Athletics Championships starts on September 27, with Briseis Brittain’s first race set for October 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a career that started playfully along the dirt tracks of Ramingining in the Northern Territory’s remote Arnhem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,109643,5951,109648,109650,109647,1209,1098,109649,109642,109644,109645,109646,109652,85,109651],"class_list":["post-167131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-briseis-brittain","tag-dubai","tag-first-nations-athletes","tag-first-nations-australia","tag-first-nations-women","tag-india","tag-nt","tag-nt-athlete","tag-para-athlete","tag-para-athletics-championships","tag-para-athletics-championships-india","tag-para-athletics-india","tag-roger-chin","tag-sports","tag-stephen-caddy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}