Born with one leg, Garvey has achieved more than most athletes could hope for in a lifetime, but now he literally needs a leg up to compete in one of the biggest triathlons in the world.
While his current prosthesis works perfectly for the bike leg of a triathlon, Garvey needs to raise $20,000 for a prosthesis similar to that of infamous Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius.
‘To run my qualifying time, I actually used my normal, working leg,’ he said.
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READ NOW‘It was probably the hardest five kilometres of my life, because I don’t get any momentum from it.
‘Imagine running with one leg on a stilt, that’s what it feels like.’
Garvey said the new prosthesis would be crucial in his event.
‘I want to show I’m as good as any athlete out there, but that just won’t be the case without that prosthesis.
‘It won’t give me any advantage over an able-bodied runner but with the prosthesis I’m using now, I’m at a huge disadvantage.’
Garvey is holding a quiz night fundraiser this Friday at The Rise in Maylands.