Kurt Fearnley knows that better than most after a stellar career that saw him achieve three Paralympic gold medals, seven world titles and a staggering 35 marathon triumphs across 10 countries as a wheelchair racer.

"When I got into an event I wanted to see how fast I could go and I would back myself on my day that if I was ready to nail my performance I would come home with a win," he said.

If that wasn't enough, the inspirational 2019 NSW Australian of the Year successfully completed a Sydney to Hobart yacht race and crawled the entire Kokoda Track on his hands.

"Winning feels pretty bloody good too."

Fearnley - who turns 38 on Saturday - will be a guest speaker at Tacking Point Tavern on Friday helping to raise funds for Hastings Dancing with the Stars.

Although he achieved that winning feeling numerous times throughout his career, Fearnley said sometimes it was more about what the individual hoped to achieve.

It wasn't necessarily about crossing the line first.

"Winning might be the culmination of 20 events rather than one," he said.

"Winning might be the result after four years. Winning might be finishing up a career knowing you've shaken the tree and you've gotten everything you possibly can out of it."

Sport was an outlet that provided valuable learning experiences - whether that was a first place or an eighth place.

"Sport is a competition and you can give a kid a learning experience through coming first and you can give them a learning experience through coming eighth," he said.

"If we mould them all together as one participation ribbon, we're losing the beauty of sport and we're losing the learning experiences of sport.

"For me, I don't see there is an ugly thing in wanting a kid to win at sport."

The four-time world championship gold medallist last week delivered on a promise he made with his nephew who was looking for sponsors for a long-distance fundraising run.

"I told him I'd give him a 20 for the win, 10 for second and a fiver for third," he said.

"He won and got a 20 out of me and the teacher wasn't happy, but it was the incentive.

"I don't understand that there's a bad thing about giving a kid something for excelling in sport and getting first, second or third place."

As well as being a humble winner, Fearnley said it was also important to teach young kids that it was just as important to be gracious in defeat.

"I didn't win for 10 years and I learned a lot through fourths, fifths, sixths and sevenths that losing is valuable," he said.

"Winning is varied, winning is incredibly personal. Each and every person carries their own idea of winning and winning is satisfying when you get there."

Tickets to the luncheon are available until 4am Friday and can be purchased from www.tackingpointtavern.com.au.

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