(Posted - 04 Dec 2009)
Deanna Blegg appears to be a typical Aussie mum of two, except she has an unstoppable passion for adventure racing, and she is HIV positive.
When Blegg takes on the Lorne Anaconda Adventure Race on Sunday, December 6, she will be racing in the women's pairs with her sister Sharon Dilly of Metung. Blegg, who won the open women's section at Lorne last year, will be looking for another win, and also keen to put a healthy face to HIV - a disease thought to be affecting 33 million people worldwide. Living with HIV is not new to 40-year-old Deanna, she was diagnosed 16 years ago and has since gone on to have two children and make a return to elite level sport.
What is new is Blegg's ambassadorial role with the Burnet Institute, Australia's largest virology and communicable disease research organisation. Blegg said the Burnet Institute concentrated on infectious diseases of global significance such as HIV, hepatitis, measles, malaria, tuberculosis, avian influenza and some cancers. Having just returned from a trip to Papua New Guinea, where she observed a Burnet Institute HIV prevention campaign, Blegg is impressed by their work. She is also pleased that the Burnet Institute is the official charity partner of the Lorne Anaconda Adventure Race, and is gaining greater recognition and support for their research.
In between training sessions, school runs, and her job at a bike shop, Blegg hopes she can educate people about HIV and the importance of exercise. "To me, I'm just a person getting on with my life, following my sporting path, and the virus is in the background - the virus is part of me, it doesn't define me," she said. "It's hard to know what I would be like without the virus, I've had it for such a long time.
"I'm fit, strong and healthy, and it doesn't seem to have caused any problems.I do take medication for the HIV and that is quite toxic, so I have a lot of side effects - I deal with those daily."
There's an irrepressible optimism about Blegg, which obviously has a positive impact on all aspects of her life, including adventure racing. Blegg spent her teenage years and early twenties competing in triathlons and entered her first adventure race - the Lorne Anaconda in 2006 - as a personal challenge to step up her training program .She was working as a Melbourne-based personal trainer, but has since moved to Tasmania with her partner Badger and children Tia-Rae, 11, and Xander, 6, who are both HIV negative.
Her whole family is excited about the Anaconda Race at Lorne. The children will enter the Anaconda Junior Survivor event on the Saturday. "I love racing with my sister (Sharon Dilly). We have a beautiful relationship. We've raced together a few times and we really enjoy it," Blegg said. "She's not the same speed as me, however, she's incredibly fit this year and I imagine we're going to have a strong race. We won the Women's Pairs in the Max 24 hour Adventure Race in New South Wales in September and we were fifth outright.
"My sister races strong and consistent. If people pass me I want to chase them, whereas she keeps everything under control, and is still racing consistently even in a 24 hour race."