10th August 2009,

Melinda Vernon wins City2Surf event

Melinda Vernon yesterday demonstrated that being deaf is no barrier to achieving your sporting dreams as she won the world's biggest fun run, the iconic City2Surf in Sydney.  

Melinda who is profoundly deaf and runs without her twin hearing aids beat a field of Australia’s top female distance runners coming in at 47:46 minutes for the 14km.

A record 75,000 entered the race, making the City2Surf the world’s biggest running event. Melinda led the female race from start to finish and finished only two minutes outside the race record and 12 seconds clear of second place Emily Brichacek.

"I have always wanted to win this race, it was a dream since I was a little kid watching it on TV, I wanted to be the one up there on the dais getting a trophy and today the dream has come true " said Vernon.

"I just felt good going into the 5k mark. I looked at my time and I was happy with how I was going, so I thought I'll keep going at that pace and see how long that holds on for," said Vernon.

An inspiring role model for the deaf community Vernon was born profoundly deaf in both ears and at the age of 6 she was the 50th Australian to receive a Cochlear Implant. In addition to her outstanding athletic achievements Melinda studies Occupational Therapy at the University of Western Sydney.  

Melinda is an outstanding example of a deaf athlete who has successfully been able to compete at an elite level and at only 23 years of age has her sights set on the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and 2012 London Olympics.

Melinda is also one of the top gold medal hopes of the Australian team for the upcoming 2009 Deaflympic Games to be held in Taipei in September. Over 4,000 athletes from 81 countries are expected to compete at the 2009 Taipei Deaflympic Games and Melinda will be part of an Australian team of 47 competing at the Games.

back to top ^
X