Patricia Hill

A key player in the development of Para sport through the 1970s and 1980s, Patricia Hill stands proud as one of New Zealand’s greatest all-time wheelchair athletes.

An eight-time Paralympic medallist and multiple world record-breaker, the versatile South Islander excelled internationally in no less than 12 athletics events – on the track, in the field and on the road – during a highly accomplished career at the top.

Forming a powerful combination with husband Dave, who acted as her mechanic, coach and later as an influential administrator, the pair worked tirelessly to raise the profile of Para sport and change the lives of countless others.

Born in 1948 as the eldest of three sisters on a poultry farm just outside of Oamaru, ‘Trish’ was an active young child and recalls playing basketball and skiing before contracting polio at the age of seven.

The disease – which only later that year in 1956 would all but be eradicated in New Zealand through ...