User:Jerry/Alan Waddell
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Alan Waddell is a 92 year old senior citizen living in Sydney, Australia, that has walked every street in 226 out of the 631 suburbs of Sydney, promoting an active lifestyle for every age. He is an ambassador for the National Heart Foundation and New South Wales Seniors' Week.
Alan's website has over 600 amusing and unusual photos of Sydney suburbs with witty captions and is regularly updated. It has just recorded its 250,000th visitor.
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[edit] History
Waddell and his wife Marjorie often conducted short bush walks together for some years before her health failed. When Waddell's wife of 60 years died in November 2002, he started walking some streets in his home suburb, but soon found this a little boring and switched to neighbouring suburbs in January 2003.
Waddell walks every day unless it is too hot or too wet, or his leg is misbehaving. His average walking time is 85 minutes, including a one-minute stop every ten minutes in order to recover from a leg aneurysm.[1]
[edit] Media coverage
During his four-year odyssey, Alan has been the subject of over 100 media items.
- "He's a legend, a terrific Sydneysider and a great Australian" - Radio Nova (Merrick & Rosso)
- "Extraordinary account: an old man mapping the city with his feet" - Adelaide Advertiser
- "Grandfather who has achieved cult fame" - St George and Sutherland Shire Leader
- "One of the best web sites I have ever seen" - Radio 702 ABC (Simon Marnie)
- "Inconceivable pioneering work" - Guang Ming Daily (Malaysia)
- "A popular web site" - San Francisco Chronicle
- "Fantastic web site" - Radio New Zealand
- "A cyber celebrity" - 9 TV network's Getaway
- "Australia's Forrest Gump" - 7 TV network's Today Tonight
- "The North Shore's most famous athlete" - Sydney Weekly Courier
- "Elderly Australian walks into stardom" - China Daily, People's Daily (China)
- "[He] has inspired thousands...an internet superstar" - Independent Times (Canada)
- "The senior citizen who is leading the fight against heart disease" - 10 TV Network news
- "A media darling Down Under and his fame is spreading fast across the globe" - Kitchener Record (Ontario, Canada)
- "You're a legend, Alan" - Hon. Tony Abbott, Australian Minister for Health (Heart Foundation Week speech)
