ALBY Clarke isn’t resting on his laurels with his award of an Order of Australia Medal.
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Mr Clarke, 80, received the OAM for his decades of service to indigenous health and to sport and plans to again add to his contributions.
He hopes to soon undertake an endurance skipping challenge in Warrnambool to raise funds for Kids with Cancer.
Mr Clarke, of Warrnambool, has completed feats of endurance in a range of sports from cycling to running and recently ran a marathon to celebrate his 80th birthday.
He has used his participation in endurance sporting events to highlight health issues not only in the indigenous community but also in the wider community.
He said he was pleased the wider community had recognised his efforts and was especially chuffed that one of the nominators for his OAM was a local policeman.
“It’s not often that a Koori asks a copper for a reference,” Mr Clarke joked.
A professional boxer in his youth, Mr Clarke took up sports with a passion in his later years to beat diabetes.
The many feats that Mr Clarke has accomplished include winning the Horsham Cycling Classic in 1998 at the age of 64, being the first indigenous competitor in the Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic in 2001 and riding for reconciliation from Perth to Warrnambool in 2002.
In 2003 he rode from Ballarat to Canberra to raise awareness about suicide and in 2007 he ran an ultra marathon from Melbourne to Warrnambool to promote Close The Gap between the indigenous and wider communities.
In 2010 he ran an ultra marathon from Portland to Warrnambool Ultra Marathon.