Tristan finds marathon man
Teacher tackles Athens challenge
TRISTAN Nelliman-adams knew that the man he wanted to be would be waiting for him at the finish line of his first marathon.
The popular Ignatius Park College teacher, rugby league coach and mentor to the school’s Indigenous students shares little in common with the typical long-distance runner.
Weighing in at just over 100kg, Nelliman-adams began his marathon journey 30kg heavier than the weight he will carry 42km over the foothills of Athens, Greece on Sunday (AEST).
Throughout his first marathon experience in Alice Springs last year NellimanAdams discovered something powerful in himself: his ‘why’.
That internal motivation is what led the 26-year-old to strap on his running shoes once again to tackle the oldest marathon in the world.
“I really found myself as a person, the man I wanted to be for younger generations,” the Wuthathi and Meriam man said.
“At the start of my journey ... I wanted to be a role model for Indigenous youth and show them no matter who you are or where you come from you can aspire and do really good things if you work hard. But as my journey evolved and I started to cultivate a mental and emotional transformation I began to unpack a lot of trauma in my life.
“People think you just ‘run a marathon’ and it’s hard but the best thing was that when I crossed the finish line everything bad that I had held on to for ages just got flushed away. The person I wanted to be in life was waiting for me on the other side of the finish line.”
Nelliman-adams only joined Robert de Castella’s Indigenous Marathon Project at first to appease a persistent cousin who had graduated from the program earlier.
Arguably Australia’s greatest marathon runner, de Castella’s IMP program selects 12 young Indigneous or Torres Strait Islanders with leadership potential each year to start from scratch to run a marathon in six months.
At the urging of his cousin Nelliman-adams overcame his “hatred” of running to trial for the program, mostly to tap in to the Indigenous leadership course that came with it.
Over a six-month preparation, running huge distances building up to the Alice Springs Marathon, NellimanAdams found the true purpose to his life, and one he never expected to find.
Nelliman-adams said his journey had clarified the importance of mental health in himself and in the Indigenous youth he is charged to guide.
That powerful lesson is what has driven the formerly reluctant runner further from Country than ever before to run the original marathon course, which includes a 30km uphill climb from the Greek village of Marathon to the capital, Athens.
“It’s going to be extremely tough but even if I have 1000 reasons to quit I only need one to keep going,” he said.