On 22nd January, 2007, Dave Cornthwaite from the UK became the first person to skateboard across Australia. He made a new world record, by skating a total of 5,823 kilometers. Jack Smith, the previous (前任的) champion, had skated a total of 4,830 kilometers across the US in 2003. Dave's journey started in Perth and ended in Brisbane travelling about 60 kilometers a day. It took him five months and 13 pairs of shoes. He had great physical pain and he got really score feet.
If Dave hadn't believed in making his dreams come true, none of this would have happened. Dave left his job two weeks after he had bought a skateboard and decided to go on a journey. He wanted this journey to be about something more than him, so he created an association that would raise money for charities. "If people follow my journey and donations, then I'm doing many people a lot of good,"said Dave.This journey had plenty of challenges. He travelled across the Australian desert (沙漠) where temperatures reached 48℃ in the day and 0℃ at night . He had a serious accident in Adelaide when he jumped on a piece of metal that cut through his foot.
Dave helped raise more than ￡50,000 for children's charities, wrote a book and encouraged others to follow in his footsteps. I wish we had more people like him leading the way!