Legendary athlete Cathy Freeman stands beside author David Griffin.
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From Olympian Cathy Freeman to Australia's only Muslim female boxer, a new book by Shepparton’s David Griffin explores the different paths to success taken by 15 Australian sportspeople.
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After more than a decade of interviews and writing, Mr Griffin has released That Race, a book centred on the 30th anniversary of Ms Freeman’s famous Stawell Gift 400m sprint victory.
“There's 15 stories in there. The centrepiece is Cathy Freeman,” Mr Griffin said.
“Her race was arguably the best race ever at the Stawell Gift.
“It launched her career in many ways because three months later she won a silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics and went on to win gold at Sydney.”
Mr Griffin said Ms Freeman herself described it as the second-best race of her career.
The celebrated Olympian started from scratch, giving away head starts of up to 54m to her rivals. Despite copping a bump at the top of the home stretch, she gathered in her opposition and hit the front with her last stride.
While the book honours a sporting legend, it also tells the story of the six other women who competed in the Stawell 400m race.
“Cathy’s the central figure and she’s done exceptionally well, but the other women, like the runner up to last, have also done exceptionally well,” Mr Griffin said.
“They’ve got families, they’ve had great athletic careers, they’ve got great jobs.”
Mr Griffin said this reflected the central message of the book.
“Success comes in different ways,” he said.
“The book highlights the fact that if you stay the path, do what you love, who knows, dreams can come true.”
David Griffin is also the producer of a documentary called That Race, which is set to be released in October.
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Beyond the Stawell Gift athletes, the book includes additional stories from sportspeople navigating their own metaphorical race.
For example, Mr Griffin interviewed former Hawthorn premiership player Max Bailey, who had endured multiple knee injuries in during his career.
“His story is not necessarily about the grand final, it’s about everything that it took to get there,” he said.
Mr Griffin said another powerful story was that of boxer William Hadlow, whom he interviewed in 2014.
“Boxing saved his life,” he said.
“He was fundamentally the reason I finished in the end … I had to finish this book to get his story out into the public.”
Mr Griffin said he felt emotional and proud to honour the people he wrote about after working on That Race on and off for over 10 years.
“When there’s good stories to tell, I figure that somewhere, somehow, I’ll get them out,” he said.
All the proceeds from That Race will go to the Westerman Jilya Institute, a not-for-profit organisation that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health care.
That Race will be available soon at Collins Books, Shepparton, and is available online at Wilkinson Publishing.
