The ‘Challenge your Boundaries’ adaptive mountain biking project had an early Christmas present this week when one of their riders donated a hand bike to the project.
“Martin Hughes was one of the first riders to make use of our facilities at the Natural Resources Wales Coed y Brenin trail centre, near Dolgellau” said project leader Graham O’Hanlon.
“He came out riding with us late in 2011, having broken his back early the same year, and we were impressed by his positivity and fortitude.”
Martin, from near Shrewsbury, had been around bikes all his life, and sought out the project to get back into off-road riding. In Nov ’11 he became an accredited rider, able to rent out the projects equipment.
Martin’s injury was caused by falling bales of hay which broke his leg and also caused a sacral fracture in his back, and this in turn had crushed his spinal cord. He spent 4 months in hospital and was told he would never walk again.
Seeing fitness and positivity as key factors in making the most of his situation, he bought his own hand-bike (the one now donated to the project). Around the same time, he also started to notice sensation returning to his left leg.
He said: “To be honest, once it looked like there might be some improvement, I started working on that, and the biking took a bit of a back seat.”
Nearly two years on and he has almost complete recovery of function and sensation in his left leg, and partial recovery in his right.
He said: “I know I’ve been lucky, and it is sometimes hard to think about the other guys from my time in hospital who didn’t get this kind of outcome. That’s part of the reason for the donation: I wanted to put something back into the system.
“To see Martin walk into the Visitors’ Centre today, you would have no idea of the emotional and physical journey he has made these last few years. This is a great outcome for Martin, and also for the project,” said Graham.
“This kind of equipment is extremely expensive, and it will help us improve our provision of adaptive cycling facilities.” he added.
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