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Allirra is about to become the first Aboriginal woman to run all six major world marathons
Allirra Jennings couldn’t move more than 50 metres when she took up running, but inspired by a family tragedy, she’s now making world history.
Published 8 April 2023 6:40am
Updated 18 April 2023 10:11am
By Laetitia Lemke
Source: SBS News
Image: Allirra Jennings is about to make history. (Supplied / Allirra Jennings)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains an image of a person who has died.
Steady breathing and the rhythmic beat of sneakers landing on a hot concrete path. This is the sound of Allirra Jennings running for her life.
The 37-year-old Kungarakan and Gurindji woman from Darwin embraced running only 10 years ago in an attempt to escape diabetes, a condition that has affected so many in her family and community.
Now she’s about to set a world record.
“I used to just think that it was inevitable, that I was predestined to have diabetes because it just runs in the family,” she says.
“But my generation and the next … we’re breaking that chain.”
Watching her grandmother, Sadie Ludwig, lose her battle with diabetes in 2013 was a life-changing moment for Allirra. She remembers her grandmother pleading for doctors to extend her life, but it wasn’t possible.
Allirra was 27 years old and at 107 kilograms says she was “really heavy”.
“I'd had a bacon and egg roll for breakfast and an iced coffee to take that down, and I just remembered feeling really disgusted with myself,” she says.
“To watch my grandma fighting for her life, and I was just eating mine away.”
“It was a big kick in the guts … I knew then and there that I was going to start honouring the body that I was given.”
One in 20 Australians has diabetes, which sees the body unable to produce enough insulin, a hormone essential for converting glucose into energy. It is the nation's fastest-growing chronic condition.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are almost four times more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to have diabetes or pre-diabetes, according to the charity Diabetes Australia.
In the remote Northern Territory, Aboriginal people aged 20 to 29 are 26 times more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than the rest of Australia, according to
Professor Jaquelyne Hughes is a kidney health specialist. Source: SBS News / Laetitia Lemke
“There are lots of contributors to illnesses like diabetes and related conditions, but certainly it's access to employment, it’s access to great education, it's an access to have our own autonomy,” says Flinders University clinical researcher and Wagadagam woman Professor Jaquelyne Hughes.
“Moving your body is really important in terms of blood sugar control, but also our bodies feel great when we move and we can do things.”
Allirra’s journey to becoming a marathon runner was tough.
“I could not run … I could only shuffle 50 metres at a time, and I just kept on doing that over and over,” she says.
But the following year she was running 42.195 kilometres in one stretch.
Allirra Jennings on her daily run in Darwin. Source: Supplied / Celina Whan
“When you're out there running, there's no one else you can hide behind. You can't blame your teammates, you can't blame the referee, you can't blame the coach … it's all on you.”
Allirra ran her first marathon in New York in 2014, travelling with health promotion charity the Indigenous Marathon Project. Later, she became a solo athlete, self-funding a return to the New York Marathon in 2017, along with trips to the Chicago, Berlin, London and Tokyo marathons.
Allirra Jennings at the finish line of the half ironman in Melbourne in 2022. Source: Supplied / Allirra Jennings
About 11,000 people have completed the six major world marathons, including 278 from Australia. The “Six Star Finishers” are honoured with medals, and a listing in the online Hall of Fame.
Allirra Jennings has run five of the six world major marathons. Source: SBS News / Laetitia Lemke
Western Arrente man Charlie Maher knows what it means to be part of that elite group.
The 40-year-old who lives in Alice Springs became the first Aboriginal man to complete all six marathons last year, surviving mental health issues, alcohol abuse and family loss to complete the journey.
He says of Allirra: “I am very proud of what she is going to achieve in Boston and we’ll all be watching and cheering her on”.
It will take Allirra about four and a half hours to complete the marathon, but Maher says it isn’t about the time it takes, it’s about why you’re running.
“You have to have a really strong purpose.”
“We just love doing things to make an impact and help inspire others to be better and look after their health and wellbeing”.
Allirra Jennings looking through old photographs with her father and grandfather. Source: SBS News / Laetitia Lemke
“I think they get a lot of their energy and their spirit from Sadie, she was quite an amazing person.”
Allirra Jennings at the Tokyo Marathon in 2023. Source: Supplied / Allirra Jennings
“She had that hallelujah moment and said, ‘I am going to do something about this for myself’, and she’s done it.”
Update: Allirra Jennings completed the Boston Marathon on 17 April.
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