If you're ever looking for inspiration, look no further than eight-year-old Timaru girl Charlotte Walker, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age two.
Charlotte has mild spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, which affects her balance.
But it doesn't keep her down - whether that be on a bike, in a pool, doing athletics, playing softball or racing in an under 23 category for both physically and intellectually challenged athletes.
“I was a bit worried for her, I thought, 'God, an eight-year-old against under 23s?' I thought that might be a little bit hard. But nope, she was absolutely dead keen to do it and we were so keen to have her,” Challenge Wanaka marketing manager Sophie Luther said.
“Seeing her get out there at such a young age, especially with her condition, it just doesn’t limit her,” her brother Jayden said.
Not only does she inspire her brother, but her attitude also rubbed off on her mum.
“I couldn’t walk a hundred metres two years ago and now I’m doing triathlons myself because Charlotte never said no, other people I knew never said no and now I never say no,” mum Kirstyn Walker said.
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