RESIDENTS had multiple opportunities to get to know their Australia Day ambassador, a man who has committed himself to fight for people living with diabetes.
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Greg Donovan founded the Born to Run Foundation in 2012, which aims to cure Type 1 diabetes.
He was inspired to do something after his son was diagnosed with the condition four years earlier, at almost 15 years of age.
The diagnosis saw Mr Donovan educate himself and become committed to raising both awareness and money to help find a cure.
He participated in the 4 Deserts challenge with a team of four others and continued to raise money off the back of it.
Mr Donovan later decided that there was nothing like 4 Deserts in Australia when there should be, and so the Big Red Run was born.
Started in 2013, it asks runners to cross 250 kilometres of the Simpson Desert on foot while raising money.
Since then, the event has been able to raise more than $1.1 million for Type 1 diabetes and also led to the creation of the Birdsville Big Red Bash music festival.
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Mr Donovan has been an Australia Day ambassador for several years now and Bathurst, a place he was already familiar with, was the closest he had been to home on January 26 since.
“I’ve been to Bathurst a lot over my life. I first came here back in the 70s as a young lad for the motorbikes races,” he said.
“I’ve been back a few times over the years and it is great to come back to Bathurst as an ambassador.”
He was pleased to be welcomed to the community to speak at several events on Friday and Saturday.
“To be able to learn about the people and the things they have done for the community is really nice,” Mr Donovan said.
