Rookwood to London 2012

Neil Smith is the DSW Head Coach at our Cycling Academy, having taught Para-Cyclist Mark Colbourne to ride a bike again following his accident in 2009, this summer he saw Mark win two silver medals and  gold in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Neil shares with us, what has been an incredible three years for both Mark and Neil.
 
Mark standing on the top step of the podium in London receiving his gold medal was a very special day for me and the culmination of a 3-year journey!

I remember very clearly that morning in 2009 when Mark first walked into the Wales National Velodrome on a pair of crutches, he was actually still a patient at Rookwood hospital and had come over to meet and discuss what opportunities where available to him in this new world of Paralympic Performance Sport.


Neil with Mark after winning
 his first medal

 A few weeks later he arrived for his first session on what have now become the legendary “stabalisers”, which allowed him to ride in a safe environment and regain his balance, whilst permitting me to fully assess his abilities. It didn’t take many weeks before he was riding solo again and we progressed onto the track for the real technical work to begin.

 We set a target for Mark to compete for the first time at the Grand Prix of Wales the following May and on his debut at the event he took Gold in both the time trial and pursuit, whilst also taking the British Record for his classification.
 

Although this was a great foundation stone there was still quite a bridge gap to a Paralympic performance level and with London fast approaching the training during the coming winter was going to be crucial if London was to become a reality, although at this stage Mark was more concerned about making Rio in 2016.

 With Mark’s disability training in cold conditions isn’t optimum, so when a friend offered him an opportunity to spend the winter in warmer climes it was something he jumped at, although coaching someone 1000+ miles away may have its challenges, thankfully with todays technologies we where able to keep in regular contact, exchanging training data and video clips.

Mark had his very own chase car

On his return to Wales in 2011, we both knew we had to find a reference event for Mark to demonstrate to Team GB the hard work he had put in over the winter and a Time Trial in Doncaster worked perfectly.

Contacting the GB Paracycling Team with the results in hand, we managed to gain agreement for FDSW to support Mark as a GB “guest rider” in Switzerland and Spain in the coming weeks, the later event seeing Mark take his first medal in a GB jersey and book his place at the 2011 World Championships where he took a silver in the time trial. The year ending with Mark becoming a full member of team GB and a move to Manchester.

 

Neil was a commentator at the Paralympic
Games for Channel 4.

Preparations going into London got underway with a great start at the 2012 Track World Championships where he became both World Champion in the pursuit and taking silver in the TT. Whilst on the road he continued to pick up medals with Silvers medals at the World Cup events in Spain and Italy.
 
So when London arrived there was great expectation both on the track and road, which Mark lived up to taking a Gold and Silver on the track and a final silver at a very hilly Brands Hatch in the time trial.

It’s a privilege for me to have joined Mark on his remarkable journey from Rookwood Hospital to London 2012!