Turia Pitt

Turia Pitt is an Australian mining engineer, burns survivor, motivationalist and author. Pitt was competing in an ultra-marathon through WA's Kimberley region in 2011 when she was caught in a bushfire. An inquiry into the Kimberley Ultramarathon was damning of RacingThePlanet (the race organisers).[1] She suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body and had four fingers from her left hand and her right thumb amputated. She launched Supreme Court action against the organisers and in May 2014 it was reported that it came to an end with an out-of-court settlement.[2]

The organisers of the event Racing the Planet were harshly criticised for their negligence and incompetence through a Parliamentary Inquiry conducted by the Australian Government.[3]

Pitt was named the NSW Premier's Woman of the Year and she was a finalist for Young Australian of the Year. She is an Ambassador for Interplast, and she graced the cover of The Australian Women's Weekly, which attracted world wide media attention.[4][5]

She is also a humanitarian, and raised close to $200,000 for Interplast by taking on a section of the Great Wall of China.[6][3]

References

  1. ↑ "Inquiry blasts organiser of disastrous Kimberley ultramarathon". The ABC. 2012-08-17. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  2. ↑ "Ultramarathon fire victim Turia Pitt reaches settlement with Racing the Planet". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2014-05-30. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pitt, Turia. "Inquiry into the 2011 Kimberley Ultramarathon - tabling of formal evidence and other documents". Parliament.wa.gov.au. Economics and Industry committee. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "About Turia". TuriaPitt.com. 2014-06-29. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  5. ↑ "Turia Pitt joins ranks of Women's Weekly cover stars". aww.com.au. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  6. ↑ "News". interplast.org.au. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2014-07-10.