The day my life changed forever ...

Hi there, my name is Mark Colbourne and I grew up in the South Wales town of Tredegar, where I currently live with my parents (sad it may sound but read on and bear with me on this one) Even from a young age I always loved the challenge of trying out new sports and I guess I found sport easy to enjoy, as with living in a strong rugby community like the South Wales valleys, this certainly helped to give me the drive and determination, that I now still have running through my veins today.

After leaving school, I wanted to pursue a career as a PE Teacher, sadly I didn't make it as a Teacher but what I did achieve was to represent Wales in sport at International Volleyball for 4 years and played in 3 British Championships, so I guess, life was not all that bad. I left college in 1989 to start working, as that was the right thing to do in those days and yes a few years later I also got married too ha ha. All through my married life I consciously kept fit and by the age of 30 I had decided to take up the sport of Triathlon. I raced regularly for 5 years in various races and also proudly raised money for Hospice of the Valleys, a local cancer care hospice in Tredegar in the process. I continued to race for a short while until my marriage amicably came to an end and the trip back home to live with good old Mam and Dad, was then imminent.

Having spent a few years searching for a new sporting challenge, one day while researching Paragliding on the internet, I found a club near where I lived. So, I made the phone call and before I knew it I had paid my membership fees and a few weeks later I was on the mountain near Merthyr Tydfil doing my ground handling skills. The feeling of flying a paragliding wing is like nothing else I have ever experienced and when the opportunity came a few months later for me to fly at Rhosilli bay with the club pilots, I jumped at the chance. As a novice pilot I was always safety conscious but I certainly didn't prepare myself for what would happen on that beautiful sunny Saturday in May 2009.

I arrived at the Gower, Swansea on the morning of my accident and the conditions were perfect for a good days flying on the Peninsula. By 5pm the day had come and gone really quickly and I had a number of good flights over the course of that day. I decided to go back up into the sky at 5.15pm and enjoy the last hour of flying before the wind dropped and I could then enjoy watching the stunning sunset over the horizon. It was 20 minutes later while flying across the top ridge when I found I was being blown backwards by a strong wind. I decided to make an emergency landing and in doing so and very unexpectedly noticed the paragliding wing had deflated and had folded in front of me, to my horror I fell to the ground from approximately 35 feet. I realised when I crashed that I could not move my legs and immediately knew that I had severe injuries to either my legs or even worst my back!

Immediately after landing, other pilots came to my rescue and they started to send radio messages for the Wales Air Ambulance, as my condition needed medical attention, straight away. As I lay on the grass completely paralysed from the waist down and with the warm sun on my face, I kept thinking over and over "at least I’m still alive". The Helicopter arrived within minutes and the staff quickly stabilised me and as you can see form the picture they put me carefully onto a spinal board. I think they knew what injury I had sustained by the total lack of movement in both my legs.

I was air lifted to Moriston Hospital Swansea and was rushed to x-ray to have the bad news given to me by the consultant "Mr Colbourne, you have broken your back”! If I was standing up I would have fallen over in shock, as you never think it is going to happen to you.

The next day, I was transferred to the Heath Hospital in Cardiff, to have my operation 1 week later and was then moved to Rookwood Hospital Llandaff, 1 week later to receive extensive physiotherapy over a 4 month period. My time in Rookwood went by very quickly and I was lucky to meet some amazing people who will be friends of mine for life, as they had been omitted for similar spinal accidents to mine. I left Rookwood in September 2009 and met up with Neil Smith, a disabled cycle coach who has previously trained World record holders and Paralympic Gold medal cyclists. So after leaving Rookwood, I spent 3 months off work and constantly spent my time in the gym, down the Velodrome track at Newport and on the indoor rowing machine to build up my strength and fitness again.

After my 3 months of hard training my next challenge was the Welsh indoor adaptive rowing championships in December 2009, which I entered and won the LTA category. This win at rowing, gave me the confidence I needed to decide that I could continue in sport, even after a life changing accident. I personally preferred disabled cycling to rowing, as riding the bike has always been my passion in Triathlon. So, Neil Smith and I set to work on our goal for me to race in an International Para-cycling event in May 2010. Only 7 months after meeting Neil and hundreds of hours of training on the bike, I now found myself on the start line at the National Velodrome in Newport in the Wales Grand Prix International Track cycling event. I raced in the C2 category 1km sprint and the 3km pursuit and not only took Gold in both events but also achieved new British records in both disciplines, in doing so. In June 2010, I was asked to help raise money for the Wales Air Ambulance along with Wales and British Lions rugby legend Colin Jarvis and a few ex-welsh rugby stars and some present rugby players from the Newport Gwent Dragons. The fundraising task was to cycle 500 miles around Wales over an 8 day period. We completed the ride and raised a staggering £27,500 in doing so.

The website for information is www.cyclechallengewales.co.uk The ride was an amazing experience for me and a good training base for when I raced in the British Para-cycling road championships and achieved an overall 5th position. It’s now almost 2 years after my accident and its winter 2010 and I am currently cycle training in Crete. I am proud to say, that I am two stone lighter this year, thanks to an excellent diet supplied to me by Sue Worrall and the amazing Juice plus+ complete product. Which gave me the nutrition I needed and the slow release goodness to train intensely, each day? I have managed to cover over 2000 training miles here on my bike over the winter period and having done so, agreed to participate in a number of UK charity cycle rides to raise money for the Wales Air Ambulance, when I return home in May. I will also be competing in the British Para-cycling Championships later in the year, both on the Track and the Road. However, my main focus in 2011 will be to qualify for the GB Para-cycling Team for the World Para-cycling Road Championships in Denmark in September. As to date, I am only a fraction off World record pace for my category and for me to qualify for this competition, would certainly be an important benchmark, ready for the qualifying process, leading up to the London 2012 Paralympics.

So to say, that I owe my thanks and gratitude to the Wales Air Ambulance service is a slight understatement, because if it was not for their fast response time on the day of my accident, I may have suffered extreme long term physical damage or even worse! Even though I still suffer with drop foot in both feet and struggle to walk unaided due to nerve damage, I would have not achieved all that I have in the last 18 months, if it was not for Ross and CJ, the paramedics. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Ross and CJ of the Wales Air Ambulance service for their excellent work done in the “Golden Hour” on the day of my crash.

Mark Colbourne

Para-cyclist