IN the space of seven months Bathurst's Waryk Holmes has gone from his first wheelchair race to the 2019 Australian All Schools Championships.
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Holmes' three silver medals at the ACPE NSW All Schools Track and Field Championships paved the way for his upcoming trip to Perth for nationals this December.
Holmes, 14, won silver in the 100m, 200m and 800m in what was his first ever track meeting.
But the journey to the next stage wouldn't have been possible without the support of family, friends and an ever-inspiring para racing community.
Together, they helped raise the money needed to cover Holmes' expenses in the NSW team and give him the opportunity to test himself on the big stage.
Seeing how much the community has rallied around him in such a short time involved with the sport has inspired Holmes to keep working hard.
"It feels great. Getting to know all the other racers that I trained with and getting to know my coach has been really good," he said.
In his short time involved with the sport Holmes has been working hard under the tutelage of nine-time Paralympic gold medal winner Louise Sauvage.
Training and racing will become that little bit smoother for Holmes when he finally gets his hands on his custom made wheelchair.
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It remains to be seen whether it will be ready in time for the nationals, running from December 6 to 8, but the smaller wheelchair will be certain to lift his performances.
"The chair's a bit too big for me at the moment. When I get my new one it'll be a lot better," Holmes said.
"It's going to drop me down lower, where I sit, and it's going to be a lot easier to push."
As one of just two junior T34 wheelchair athletes competing at a national level, the path towards a big career in the sport is open for Holmes to take if he continues to apply himself.
It's on the road, not the track, where Holmes feels he has the chance to further his racing career.
He's already gearing up for a shot at a 10 kilometre event in Sydney and he knows he's capable of seeing out that distance.
"I had a race which was meant to be a 7km race but I ended up doing 15 because there was a bit of confusion from the marshalls on the track," Holmes said.
"One of the boys in front only did 5km, and didn't do the loop on the track, and they disqualified him. They thought we hadn't done the loop either so they sent us back around and we ended up doing 15 instead."
And after being told he had to give the 10km event a go by Carcoar's Paralympic legend Kurt Fearnley it wasn't a voice Holmes was going to ignore.
With the shorter distances not being his forte, Holmes will make the jounrey west to Perth feeling very little pressure.
His main aim will be attempting to better his 100m, 200m and 800m times from the state championships of 27.13 seconds, 44.90 and 3:29.17.