Having only started wheelchair racing two years before making his Paralympic debut, two-time Paralympian Rheed McCracken is on track to become a legend of his sport.
Although he was always determined to pursue a career in Para-athletics, it was a chance meeting with Channel 7 personality David ‘Kochi’ Koch that propelled Rheed into Paralympic stardom. Seated next to Kochi on a plane, the two struck up a conversation about Paralympic wheelchair racing great Kurt Fearnley, and Kochi, who has known Kurt for years, offered Rheed the opportunity of a lifetime when he challenged him to compete against Kurt in a wheelchair race in Sydney.
Not long after, Rheed made his international debut at the 2011 IWAS World Games in Sharjah, UAE. He won one gold and four silver medals, and caught the attention of Australian selectors for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
In England, Rheed exceeded all expectations, returning home …
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Having only started wheelchair racing two years before making his Paralympic debut, two-time Paralympian Rheed McCracken is on track to become a legend of his sport.
Although he was always determined to pursue a career in Para-athletics, it was a chance meeting with Channel 7 personality David ‘Kochi’ Koch that propelled Rheed into Paralympic stardom. Seated next to Kochi on a plane, the two struck up a conversation about Paralympic wheelchair racing great Kurt Fearnley, and Kochi, who has known Kurt for years, offered Rheed the opportunity of a lifetime when he challenged him to compete against Kurt in a wheelchair race in Sydney.
Not long after, Rheed made his international debut at the 2011 IWAS World Games in Sharjah, UAE. He won one gold and four silver medals, and caught the attention of Australian selectors for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
In England, Rheed exceeded all expectations, returning home with a silver medal in the men’s 100m T34 and bronze in the men’s 200m T34, to be named Paralympics Australia’s Junior Athlete of the Year alongside Para-swimmer Maddison Elliott.
Rheed defended his silver medal in the men’s 100m T34 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, and won a silver and bronze medal at the 2017 World Para-athletics Championships in London.
With four months to go until the 2019 World Para-athletics Championships in Dubai, UAE, Rheed is among Australia’s top contenders for a world title. But for him, success is so much more than winning gold – it is about giving every race a “red hot crack”.
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