Photo by Molly Jarratt.
She’s the talk of the town; the 32-year-old superstar who wheeled 441 kilometres across the Riverina in her everyday wheelchair to raise funds for rural mental health.
After eight gruelling days in just about every condition mother nature could throw at her, Samantha (Sam) Longmore’s emotional conclusion was celebrated by hundreds in what can only be described as a celebration of community, inclusivity and the grit of one woman.
Sam’s never been one to let her past define her, and despite being bilaterally paralysed down her left side following two horrific car crashes 13 years ago, she says it hasn’t stopped her from doing what she loves.
An Australian Water-Skiing Disabled Division World Champion and owner of several small businesses, anyone who knows Sam knows that once she sets her mind to something, she’ll see it to fruition.
What had initially begun as a footnote on her phone (The Big Wheel – Charity – Mental Health – Raise $200,000) quickly turned into so much more than she would imagine.
Before Sam started, she certainly never would have guessed her notes-app idea would so thoroughly capture the heart of the nation and only set the ambitious funding goal as a number placeholder.
“I didn’t think we’d hit $200,000, and I wasn’t too concerned about that,” she says.
“I knew we’d raise a bit of money, or I hoped so, but to actually have reached that goal is mind-blowing and I’m still processing it.”
When Sam started her trek on Day One from the Corowa Whisky and Chocolate Factory, her upcoming 441 kilometres were daunting, yes, but a challenge she was eager to face in an effort to raise awareness and funds for two important rural mental health services: Riverina Bluebell and Rural Aid.
“Mentally, I feel like a million bucks, because I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve, and that’s to start a conversation and get people out to talk openly and honestly,” she says.
“We talk a lot about mental health, but I believe we’re not talking honestly enough.
“I think by me trying to show my whole self out there on the road, and with everyone I came into contact with, I really hoped that would give people the space to be their whole selves to speak their mind and their truth, and it did.
“I had so many stories along the road… it gave them that space to start yapping, which is incredible, because that’s what we all need to do more of: let people know we’re struggling, because there’s an army behind every single one of us.
“Without that army, my week would’ve looked a lot different.”
Along the way, Sam became one of the most talked about women in the region, with school children leaving the classroom to cheer her on along the way. At one Junee school, Year Five and Six students were sat down to watch her process online in a lesson about positive attitudes and resilience.
“Everything needs to start from the ground up, and the fact that kids were so honed in on what I was doing was so incredible, because that’s where it starts,” says Sam.
“That’s where poor mental health starts, whether it be home life, bullying at school, lack of access etc… Whatever the situation might be, that’s where the change needs to start by giving the [our younger generations] back a little bit of power within their own life.”
Although everything Sam did was for the cause, she says there was also a really important message to everyone that those with physical or mental differences can do hard stuff too.
“Just because you are different doesn’t mean you can’t do cool s***,” she says.
“It doesn’t mean you achieve things or get what you want out of life, and it was important that I was able to shine a light on that, which was a byproduct of what I was doing.
“In the back of my mind, I was using my point of different here for the positive side of things rather than the negative.”
Along the way, the Yass local began to see handmade signs taped to trees and poles as she pushed (using only her right foot and hand). That momentum quickly built as she begun to battle the elements. By the time she reached the halfway point to Junee on Day Four, the community towns had begun to rally, hosting welcoming parties to celebrate Sam’s incredible feats of strength.
Sam’s dedication to the cause wasn’t the only inspiration many took from her, with one child from Harden announcing he was so inspired by seeing her take on such a hard challenge that he would try skiing again after failing to get up the year before.
“I was like, ‘f*** yeah man. Yes, you are!’” she says.
Sam’s own sister ran alongside her on Day One, completing her first ever 10-kilometer run and her uncle later joined her in his work boots and clothes. Seeing her sister’s face light up after realising she could do things she’d never done before, Sam said the cause became so much more than a wheel for mental health trek.
“I wanted to shine a light on rural mental health, and it became a disco ball of so many other things as well, which I’m incredibly proud of,” she says.
“I’ve got a heap of reflecting to do and a heap more talking to do in time, but it’s the generosity [that did it].”
Along the way, Sam says she was incredibly aware of the financial pressure many are facing with the current cost of living crisis and says she was overwhelmed by the support and love the community gave to the cause.
“I keep on thinking of this one lady who gave me a $5 note… and she said, ‘if I had more to give, I would’,” she says.
“That’s been sitting with me for a few days, that this woman would have given me her last $5 because she believed in it so much, and it’s an incredible thing in regards to the generosity of stranger and how much people do care.
“I didn’t plan on this being any more than what I initially thought it was going to be – which wasn’t this big – but it’s incredible what we can achieve together as a community, as a collective and as a human race.”
In each town, Sam found herself gifted with coffees from cafes during her journey, and she says the simple act was so heartwarming for both her and her team that it really highlighted the importance of coming together as a community.
It was these simple acts of kindness that kept Sam going when things got truly tough.
“The weather had some mental health problems of its own,” she says.
“One day, we had all of the weather elementals with sunshine, freezing cold, sideways rain and wind. We’d wake up to a frost and then I was sweating my guts out by the end of the day because the sun was so harsh in your face, it was insane.”
Not only was Sam facing the elements like a trooper (when many would have been rugged up inside), she was also faced with a new problem: ensuring her body was regulating temperature well.
“Unless it’s torrential rain, it’s only a bit of water or wind,” she says.
“It’s a play on words, but it shows we can weather the storm to some degree.
“We are so terrified of being hurt of being stuck in tough situations that we try and dodge them all the time, and therefore, we’re not growing through these difficult times by enabling ourselves to build these tool bags that we can use for later difficult times.”
When you put a message out as big as Sam’s, she says to some extent, you have to practice what you preach, which is how she found herself wheeling between Wagga and Junee in some of the worst weather the region has seen this winter.
Junee local, Kyle Lawson biked out to meet Sam on the morning of her third day to ride with her back to his hometown, which also so happened to be Sam’s birthplace. Kyle ended up overshooting Sam’s location by approximately 10 kilometres on his way to meet her.
Without the extra push and encouragement, Sam says the day might’ve turned out differently.
“It was a rough day, we had all of the elements that day,” she says.
“We have similar brains in the way that we like to sit with the hard things, because there’s so much that comes from them.”
Kyle’s encouragement got Sam over the Mad Mile – a notorious straight stretch of road with a steep incline at the end just before Junee.
“I remember saying to him, ‘don’t be nice to me Kyle’, because he was nice all day,” she says.
“I couldn’t do nice talk and he started to find this little bit of mongrel in him and it helped me get through that last little bit because he understood exactly what I was trying to achieve.”
The friendship forged that day found Kyle waiting for her at the finish line with his family, and Sam says it was such a beautiful thing to learn just how much support she had behind her.
“This is a team effort because together we are better,” she says.
“There is so much loneliness in the world right now and that shouldn’t ever be the case… But loneliness in rural communities blows my f***ing mind, when there are so many people around.
“In the city, you’re surrounded by so many people, yet it feels like you’re in the loneliest part of the world, but knowing that people feel lonely in our regional, rural and remote areas? That’s nuts.
“Where has our sense of community gone?”
Turns out, the community was behind Sam all along.
Before she started, Sam says she had a recurring nightmare in the leadup to the event that she would finish in Yass with no one at the finish line. She couldn’t have been further from the truth, with hundreds showing up for her.
“Thank you for giving me space to be me,” she says.
“We close ourselves off because society wants us to be a certain way all the time, and a lot of us don’t want to be our true selves… I needed to be me as much as possible throughout that week.”
Sam was joined on the road not only by community members running, walking, riding or driving in collaborative support, but some of her closest friends and family, who kept her infectious humour alive in constant updates to her social media page.
Without laughter, Sam says, we cry.
Although she says she never gave herself the space to even think about giving up, there were times that truly tested her.
“Once you get over that first hill, then you know you can get over the next one and the next one, and it just starts building your confidence,” she says.
“As tough as it is, and as many tears as there were… I just had to keeping pushing and pulling and pushing and pulling.
“[At one point], I was in excruciating pain with tears running down my face from anger and frustration, but I got to the top at the end.”
Sam’s ride on Day Six (Cootamundra to Harden) was her gamechanger.
“For some reason, I woke up that morning and felt really good and happy,” she says.
“The weather was playing ball and everyone in the crew was having a good time, it was just beautiful. I had young kids who had come over for a run and some solid hills, but things were just shining the right way.”
The 441 kilometres have certainly taken their toll on Sam throughout the trip and she is now in recovery mode with a leg that has swollen up to three times its size.
Covering more than 120 kilometres over the first two days, Sam says her body only started to scream at her on Day Three, which was the same day she injured herself and was lashed with rain. Overcoming that hurdle was way harder than any of the hills she climbed.
“There was no way that I wasn’t going to get to that finishing line,” she says.
“People asked if I was sure about it, and I told them, ‘I don’t care if I’m wheeling in at midnight, it’s happening’. I needed to get to each town at that particular stretch of day as a goal.”
On her final day, as Sam rounded the corner to the entrance of Yass, she found all sorts of people (from community and sports groups to children) ready to lead her home, but just two kilometres out from the finish line, she chose to pause, reflect and take on the final challenge alone.
“I had this peaceful moment to myself and then I came up over this little bend towards the racecourse, and I wish I didn’t do it, but I took a glance off to the right-hand side and saw all of these cars and a sea of people,” she says.
“It made me feel incredible but also before, because I knew once I got in I was going to be a deer in headlines and felt like these people wanted me to do a trick or something, but they were just happy to be part of that finish line.
“It blew my head off and I had a wave of emotions come over me that I was done. I don’t know whether it was fear as well of what I’m going to do next or what.”
At the finish line, Sam was indeed the centre of attention, with Yass Valley Mayor Jasmin Jones calling her a “bloody legend’.
“As Mayor of this town, I want to say from the bottom of my heart, how much we appreciate what you’ve done for the rural mental health of not just our community, but every rural community in the nation,” she said.
CEO of Rural Aid, John Warlters, said Sam’s effort reflected both endurance and a strong commitment to rural Australia.
“What Sam has achieved is an outstanding effort. Covering 441 kilometres over eight days in support of rural mental health is no small feat, and it speaks volumes about her dedication to rural communities,” he said.
“Just as significant as the physical achievement were the connections made along the way. Every conversation, every wave from the roadside, and every shared story helped shine a light on the realities faced in many rural and remote communities.
“The funds raised will go toward delivering practical mental health support, emergency assistance and wellbeing programs that help farming families and regional communities not only through difficult times, but in building long-term resilience.”
Although Sam’s journey has come to an end, the conversation has only just started.
Donations to the cause are still open at https://www.mycause.com.au/page/393886/the-big-wheel
Elizabeth Kovacs
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