Shaw and Partners was honoured to have Oscar Chalupsky in the Perth office today as he shared his inspiring story as a 12-time world-champion paddler and cancer warrior. Oscar is currently competing in the Shaw and Partners WA Race Week taking place in Perth.

Few athletes hold a record comparable to that of Oscar Chalupsky. He made history at the age of 15 as the first person to win both the Junior and Senior Ironman titles on the same day at the South African National Lifesaving Championships. He was the country's spokesman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and he is a multiple-times global surf ski champion, having won the internationally famous Molokai to Oahu World Surf Ski Marathon championships in Hawaii a record twelve times - his most recent victory being at the age of forty-nine.

Then, in 2019, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer and told he had six months to live. But as with everything else Oscar does, he is determined to emerge victorious. He continues to paddle kayaks, play golf, and with a combination of medical treatment, exercise, iron determination and unconquerable optimism, he has defied every doctor's prediction to date. 

His book, No Retreat, No Surrender, is an uplifting account of grit, perseverance, talent and attitude, vividly capturing the determined mindset of an inspirational sporting legend.