Paul Crake was a professional cyclist, and a mountain runner, but he is probably best known for his career as a record-breaking stair runner.
From 1999 to 2003, he won the race to the top of New York’s Empire State Building five times in a row. The record he set in 2003 still stands.
“In under 10 minutes I was going up over 1,500 steps,” he said, as he looked over pictures of his victories.
That all changed 10 years ago. Mr Crake was approaching the finish of the Tour of Southland, in New Zealand, when strong winds blew him off the road.
He careered down a bank and hit a fencepost. He would never walk again.
“In the first couple of years after the accident I was trying to comprehend and deal with being in a wheelchair when I’d been used to being an elite athlete,” he said.
But of all the things that Mr Crake battled in those years, getting back on the road was one of the keys to coming to terms with what had happened.
“I always say I started to deal with things and overcome aspects of being in a wheelchair when I started to drive again,” he said.
It is estimated there are more than 30,000 people in Australia living with spinal cord injuries and amputations who could potentially drive modified vehicles.
Paul Crake believes that number could be even greater when the needs of others who require modifications to drive are factored in.
“We could get a lot of people driving competently and safely again,” Mr Crake said.
He believes his company is about to change the game for people with a disability who want to drive.
His company has a first for Australia: a van equipped with nearly every conceivable modification option.
Drivers like 33-year-old Sally Barbeta are keen to try it out.
“It felt really great. The van’s made it really easy just to wheel on in,” she said.
Ms Barbeta lives with dwarfism. This year, a series of operations also left her a paraplegic and in a wheelchair. After 16 years of driving with leg extensions, she now has to learn to drive again.
“With these new hand controls, it’s made it very easy to drive the van,” she said.
Ms Barbeta’s experience is a good illustration of how this new van makes assessing modifications much easier.
Before, each potential vehicle was modified on a customised basis. But no-one really knew if the fit would be right until the job was finished. Often vehicles were sent back for more work.
Modifications take months and can be very expensive, sometimes more than $100,000 per vehicle. So being able to test all options and knowing exactly what works will save time and money.
“It’s giving me my independence,” Ms Barbeta said, after completing her first test drive with a driving instructor and an occupational therapist. “It will get my old life back. [So] really good.”
Ms Barbeta uses a satellite hand unit to control acceleration and braking. The van also has a host of accessible features to control steering.
There are also full voice controls for operating everything from turn indicators, to windshield wipers, to the windows.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Louisa King, an occupational therapist who specialises in helping people with a disability learn to drive.
“In the past we had to guess, and we had to put in a lot of guess work before we could say, ‘Yup, this is going to work’,” she said.
“It will actually give us a big chance to get clients on the road.”
Those are exactly the words Paul Crake and his company want to hear.
“It’s rewarding,” he said. “There’s a lot to deal with when you’re sitting in a wheelchair. And anything we can do to make that process easier … does play an important role for us.”
