Tony is a former body builder who came to Australia in 1960 and worked at the Golden Bowl Fitness Centre in Camberwell. Looking for marketing ideas Tony suggested to the owner that as a promotion for the Centre he would run from Sydney to Melbourne. Tony’s running career snowballed from this point.
In 1972, Tony Rafferty became the first man to run from Melbourne to Sydney, pioneering ultra-distance running in Australia and breaking many records.
Tony was the first man in 1973 to run across the Australian continent from Fremantle to Surfers Paradise (5931 km). First man to run from Perth to Brisbane, Perth to Adelaide, Adelaide to Brisbane, Melbourne to Brisbane and Sydney to Brisbane.
In 1975 Tony ran for 50 hours non-stop, creating a world record and in 1978 was the first man to run from Melbourne to Sydney and return.
In 1979 he was the first to do what was thought impossible to run through Death Valley in California, the hottest place on earth. Road temperatures soared to more than 70 deg. Celsius.
Tony broke the Adelaide to Melbourne record in 1980 and in 1986 was the winner of the 1000 Mile International race in Hull, England. He also ran across the Simpson Desert and earned 5th place in the World 6 Day Championships at La Rochelle in France.
In August 1989, Tony broke the world 1000-mile record by 33 hours and along the way also broke the 700-mile, 800-mile, 900 mile and 1500km records!
In 1991 he placed third in the world’s longest race (1300 miles at Flushing Meadows in New York) and in 1993 became the only man to compete in 10 Australian six-day races.
Now in his 60’s, Tony was one of the Sydney Olympics Torch Relay Bearers.
As a speaker, Tony continually draws upon his own amazing personal experiences to demonstrate the fact that a positive attitude will always carry you through even the most stressful and trying situations.
Tony is a humorous & dynamic speaker and excels as a top motivator. Being such a high achiever has made Tony only too aware of what it takes to be a success. His ideas on the pursuit of excellence do not apply just to running, but to people in all fields and from all walks of life.
Tony Rafferty is particularly effective in the corporate area as his teachings encompass golden rules on motivation, secrets of success and the will to win.
