PADDLE AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIAN OCEAN RACING SERIES JOINT STATEMENT
April 19, 2023
FINAL EVENT INFO – SHAW AND PARTNERS FORSTER RACE WEEKEND 2023
April 21, 2023
DUAL PARALYMPIAN, JOHN MACLEAN’S NEW CHALLENGE – ENDURANCE OCEAN-SKI PADDLING
FIRST HIT OUT: FORSTER OCEAN CLASSIC AND NINE MILE CUP – April 22-23, 2023
Written by Ingrid Roepers Public Relations
Dual Paralympian John Maclean, the man who’s defied all odds after a tragic accident in 1988 rendered him a paraplegic to face life in a wheelchair, has embarked on a new sporting challenge – ocean ski paddling. His first major hit-out will be this weekend (April 22-23) on the Barrington Coast when Maclean will line up with more than 200 competitors to tackle two endurance paddling races in the Shaw and Partners Forster Race Weekend.
Fifty-six year old Maclean will compete in the Nine Mile Cup on Saturday from Forster to Blackhead Beach, and in the 20km Forster Ocean Classic on Sunday from Elizabeth Beach, round Cape Hawke to the Forster finish line. He’ll race Australia’s leading paddlers and surf stars including Cory Hill and Tom Norton and veterans like ironman Guy Leech and Olympian Jim Walker as the field faces the unpredictable, and often tumultuous, conditions of open ocean competition.
JOHN MACLEAN’S STORY
But Maclean’s life has been anything but smooth paddling. At just 22 years of age, Maclean was hit from behind by and eight-ton truck while bike training for the Nepean Triathlon and was left with a broken back and pelvis, a broken arm, broken ribs and punctured lungs and rendered an incomplete paraplegic.
Refusing to be beaten, Maclean always loved sport. He’s kept moving since the day he left hospital and has trained, competed and succeeded in seven different sporting disciplines over 30 plus years – triathlon, rowing, long distance swimming, wheelchair racing, hand cycling and basketball, and paddling. He’s represented Australia in two Paralympic Games, won a silver medal rowing in Beijing in 2008, was the first wheelchair athlete to complete the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon in 1995 and in 1998 became the first wheelchair athlete to successfully swim the English Channel.
PADDLING SET JOHN “FREE”
But paddling has always held a special spot in Maclean’s sporting repertoire. Lying in his hospital bed back in 1988, his best buddy, John Young buoyed his spirit and resolve, by setting the duo a goal – paddling. It was Maclean’s first sporting “mission”, and once he left hospital, intense training began. Maclean and Young paired up and took on a serious challenge, nothing less than the 111km Hawkesbury Classic from Windsor to Brooklyn. They competed in the Classic over three years in the early ’90’s– taking a 12th, a 3rd and their best result, a 2nd place to the then state champions.
“We had a red-hot go. I loved paddling, I was free, no wheelchair, no crutches, out on the water. Paddling got me out of that hospital bed, and got me focussed on my future, got me back into the game of life. I was out there with my mate, we were competing, we were training, and I’ve loved the sport ever since,” said Maclean.
After his initial foray with the paddle, and re-engaging to race Molokai in Hawaii in 2005, the discipline of paddling took a back seat in Maclean’s sporting career.
But he returned to his paddle and kayak after being inspired by the 2021 Paralympic Games. He initially focussed on sprint kayaking, making the paralympic national team in 2022 and a World Cup representation, but missed selection for 2023 by just one second at the Australian selection regatta in February.
HIS NEW CHALLENGE – OCEAN SKI PADDLING
After the disappointment of not making the team for 2023, the unstoppable Maclean swapped his kayak for an adapted FENN ocean ski, using his carbon-fibre leg brace to work the foot controls.
His new challenge, endurance paddling. He enlisted the ocean-ski master, Dean Gardiner to help, joined his squad off Collaroy and also trains on Sydney Harbour.
“Let’s just say I’ve had a change of plan. I was training for a 200m sprint event, but now I’m focussed on something a little longer, in fact 20km longer. The sprint door closed, so endurance paddling is my new passion and I’m heading to Forster,” said Maclean.
“I know how to paddle, I have solid fitness, just got to master those open ocean waves and catch a few downwind runners to ease the long-haul grind. They say once I’ve mastered the waves, downwind racing is a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to that,” he joked.
“I’m enjoying the challenge of open-water paddling, the competition, and the camaraderie. And if this weekend is good, I’ve got my eyes firmly fixed on The Doctor in Perth in November. That’s a 27km open ocean race from Rottnest Island to Perth, and it sounds like a great 2023 goal for me!.”
Maclean believes when we’re young, we tend to have a go – and for him it was a “go” at everything. But as we get older, we find excuses.
“I’ve never been one for excuses. I just wonder, can I do that? My Dad asked me once ‘how far can you go?’ I guess I’ll find out this weekend! said Maclean.
ABOUT FORSTER RACE WEEKEND
In its third year, Forster Race Weekend will see over 200 paddlers converge on the Barrington Coast for round two of the national 2023 Shaw and Partners Australian Ocean Racing Series.
While some will be Olympians and the leading names of the kayaking and surf lifesaving ranks, ironmen of the past and even Master-chefs, most of the field will be men and women aged as young as 15 through to 70+ with a few things in common – a love of paddling, of training hard and the thrill of competition. They’ll race on ocean skis, paddleboards, canoes and SUPS to tackle the seas off Forster in two challenging battles, all vying for their slice of the sizeable $25 000 prize pool.
SHAW AND PARTNERS FORSTER RACE WEEK AGENDA
*Direction of racing subject to wind direction
Saturday April 22 at 1pm; expected finish 1.50-2pmThe Nine Mile – between Forster and Black Head Beach * (13 km distance)
Sunday April 23 at 1pm; expected finish 2.15-2.30pm Forster Ocean Classic – between Elizabeth Beach and Forster Beach * (20 km distance)
For more on John Maclean’s story go to www.johnmaclean.com.au
For further media information: Ingrid Roepers at iroepers@irpr.com.au on mobile 04 111 989 44
