Marathon legend Rob de Castella will be appearing on the cover of the latest telephone book for Canberra, Queanbeyan and Yass, which starts landing outside front doors from Saturday.
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‘‘It’s a new twist to ‘Let your fingers do the walking’. I’d prefer people used their legs to do the walking,’’ Mr de Castella, 57, said, with a laugh.
The modest former world champion will appear on the cover of the local 2014-15 White Pages and Yellow Pages, selected by publisher Sensis under the theme, Inspiring Others to Achieve, which recognises people ‘‘who selflessly help others achieve goals and are an inspiration to their local community’’.
Since his retirement from competitive running, de Castella has been working tirelessly to get Australian communities lean, active and healthy.
As well as working to conquer childhood obesity generally, de Castella has also been focused on improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island youth, training them to run the New York City Marathon through his Indigenous Marathon Project.
De Castella appreciated the honour of being on the cover but said ‘‘these days it’s not about me any more’’.
‘‘If it’s an opportunity for me to promote both the IMP [Indigenous Marathon Project] and the kids and their achievements and portraying such a wonderful, aspirational example of young indigenous men and women and also an opportunity for me to promote the children’s health issues that I do, I’m really happy to leverage off my profile to get those messages out there,’’ he said.
The latest telephone book will retain the current font size but will be a smaller-sized book, running across four columns a page rather than five columns.
White Pages product manager Sarah Simpson said the change was the result of customer feedback.
‘‘Over time, people’s needs have changed with most people now preferring to use a book that is easier to handle. We’ve listened to that feedback and come up with a new size and page layout that meets user’s changing needs, while ensuring the book contains the same comprehensive content that everyone can rely on,” she said.
Residents and businesses can choose not to receive a copy of the White Pages and Yellow Pages by calling Sensis on 1800 008 292 or visiting www.directoryselect.com.au.
In recent years, the Canberra telephone book has featured on its cover breast cancer survivor Anna Wellings, who helped found the ACT branch of Dragons Abreast, brain tumour survivor Matthew Pitt, who established support group Brain Tumour Alliance Australia, and Weetangera resident Keith Colls for his work in promoting organic gardening and establishing a community garden network.
