The annual Australia Day event, the Oz Day 10K wheelchair road race, was held again this year at The Rocks in Sydney.
The inaugural race started in 1990 with the philosophy to create an event where children with disabilities could see the elite wheelchair athletes in action.
The race has also attracted many foreign athletes, particularly from Japan.
This year, Tokyo Paralympic track and field athletes Tomoki Ikoma, and Momoka Muraoka, competed in the open category. Ms Muraoka is also a Winter Paralympian who competes in alpine skiing.
While Hitoshi Matsunaga, who has competed at the Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, and Jun Hiromichi, silver medallist at the Sydney Paralympics, competed in the Masters category.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time in four years that Japanese athletes have participated in the event.
The Sydney cheer team, Sakura Kids Cheerleaders, gathered along the route from early morning to cheer on the athletes.
14-year-old cheerleader Lei Ametani says she missed cheering on the Japanese athletes due to the pandemic, and it was great to see the high-intensity race up and close.
Jun Hiromichi, the winner of the Masters, says hearing the cheerleaders on the most challenging hill of the course gave him great strength.
"The cheering gave me strength," he told SBS Japanese.
Mr Hiromichi has participated in the event multiple times in the past, but this is the first time to go home with the trophy.
All four Japanese nationals placed at the Oz Day 10K this year.
Hitoshi Matsunaga took home 2nd place in the Masters, while Tomoki Ikoma and Momoka Muraoka took 3rd place in the Men's and Women's Open, respectively.
For post-race interviews with the athletes, listen below.
