00:09thank you very much what I would like to
00:11do is just to give you an insight into
00:13my life over the last few years and
00:17maybe you can just get an appreciation
00:24here okay my story and my presentation
00:28is entitled when you have a dream
00:30never give up because you never know
00:32what tomorrow is going to bring and for
00:35me now as a disabled person I look back
00:37on my life and I'm very
00:39appreciative of the life that I've
00:42had I'd like to take you back to
00:452009 when as you can see this was my
00:49impression but life was great for me
00:53full-time job you know nice company car
00:56racing Triathlon regularly you know
00:59canoeing but my passion was
01:03paragliding and when you get that Peter
01:05Pan moment as a paragliding pilot there
01:08is in my eyes there is nothing like it
01:12unfortunately as you can
01:19unfortunately 2 hours after this
01:22Photograph was taken I was flying just
01:26among this area here
01:31when my life changed in a matter of
01:32seconds and what actually happened I
01:34flew into what we call a
01:35crosswind which is almost like black ice
01:39in the air that you can't see it you
01:40can't feel it you can't touch it but
01:42it's there and what happens when you
01:44actually fly into a crosswind is that
01:48your canopy actually
01:52collapses now for me flying at 40 ft
01:56above the ground as you can imagine
02:00was a very very scary moment indeed now
02:03when I actually Hit the
02:04Floor after my canopy collapsed I didn't
02:08realize the actual severity of my
02:12injury but to add insult to injury when
02:16I actually Hit the Floor from about 40
02:18ft which is quite traumatic in itself
02:22the canopy actually reinflated and
02:24dragged me for almost 80 mters so this
02:27experience of being in a washing machine
02:30and just being tumbling and tumbling and
02:32being smashed to the floor was just an
02:35horrific experience for me it really
02:39was when I actually finally stopped
02:43tumbling and I'm lying on the floor
02:45looking up at the sun and the blue sky
02:47and thinking to myself
02:49wow that was really really
02:51close I'm just so lucky that I'm still
02:54alive and then I tried to sit
02:58up and I thought why can't I sit
03:01up why can't I move my
03:04legs because you're trained as a
03:06paragliding pilot to uncp your harness
03:08and pull in the canopy when you
03:12crash but this feeling of being velcro
03:18scary and they say that life begins at
03:2140 and it really did for
03:23me so this feeling of lying on the floor
03:26while the paragliding Pilots came down
03:31was such a life-changing experience for
03:33me so one of the paragliding Pilots
03:35radioed for the whales air ambulance and
03:37as you can see from this Photograph here
03:41immediately not knowing the severity of
03:46injury so after maybe 40
03:49minutes of treating me and stabilizing
03:51me onto this spinal board very very
03:54carefully because I kept saying to the
03:56paramedic I can't feel my
03:58legs it's okay you're in good
04:01hands so immediately they air lifted me
04:06hospital and within maybe 15 maybe 20
04:10minutes I'm actually being treated by
04:13possibly the best health care service in
04:15the world and I kept saying to the
04:17consultant can you just tell me what
04:19I've done because I can't feel my legs
04:24up and the consultant said to me look we
04:27need to get you into the MRI we need to
04:29to get you to have an
04:32x-ray so we know exactly what you've
04:37done now when somebody tells you that
04:41back after having 20 years of enjoying
04:45sport your whole life just washes before
04:50eyes and I genuinely thought that at
04:53that point my life was completely over
04:55however it was actually the start of a
05:08was when I was actually admitted into
05:11hospital to have a spinal operation to
05:14have my vertebra fused with special
05:18pins the first day I woke up after my
05:20operation and I'm staring up at the
05:22ceiling and Counting the ceiling
05:27tiles and I say to people can you lie in
05:29in bed for maybe maybe a few days
05:31without moving because it's so
05:36me having the experience of just lying
05:39there not being able to move and and go
05:42for a shower and go for food was very
05:46frustrating but to actually lie there
05:52months completely paralyzed was very
05:55very frustrating indeed however I never
05:59gave gave up because I know in my heart
06:02one day I'm going to pass away whether
06:06not so for me it was just a new
06:09challenge in life because we all grow up
06:11from a very young age facing challenges
06:13every single day of our life and luckily
06:16and I mean this even though I've
06:18suffered lower leg paralysis both my
06:21feet don't work no hamstrings no glutes
06:23fire in the one group of muscles that
06:26did work thankfully in my legs were my
06:31quads because they weren't affected
06:33through the nerve damage now luckily
06:37because of my quads working that meant
06:39that after 5 6 months in hospital I can
06:41actually sit on an exercise bike and
06:43turn the pedals I couldn't walk even on
06:47walking aids I was really
06:49struggling but when I left hospital
06:52after nearly 6 months I focused on what
06:55I could do and didn't worry about what I
06:58couldn't do because that wasn't going to
07:00change my disability was always going to
07:02be what it was going to
07:09academy which actually taught disabled
07:12people to have a life so when I actually
07:14stepped onto the bike I didn't feel
07:17disabled it was just a euphoric feeling
07:21was so after another 6 months of just
07:25training and training and training the
07:28light bulb went off in my head head we
07:30were now 2 years away from the biggest
07:32sporting event on the
07:34planet the London par Olympics but at
07:37that point it was just a a thought
07:40genuinely just a thought my conscience
07:45Rehabilitation maybe a new life allbe it
07:51disability but that was my thought that
07:53was my feeling to have a
07:57life now I think for me going through
08:00life as a very very active individual
08:03and growing up with this wonderful man
08:05who was known as Mr Nice Guy this is my
08:08dad this was me growing up with a great
08:12family and my dad always said to me you
08:16know if you have a dream never give up
08:18sen but if you want your life to
08:21change you have to change and one of my
08:25friends spoke to me on a a very special
08:30and he said to me are you training for
08:32the London Paralympics I said no no no
08:35no he said I think you
08:38should I said why do you say that then
08:42Colin he said because you've got so much
08:45endurance even as a disabled athlete I
08:49think you could do really well and when
08:51somebody says to you I think you can do
08:53really well that's another challenge in
08:55itself isn't it so the light bu moment
08:58started 24 months exactly before the
09:05Olympics I took myself off to crit for
09:08six months training when we had a really
09:122011 and I came back after completing 3
09:18miles in you know the wonderful
09:21Mediterranean region of
09:23crit to then come back and compete in a
09:27an international time trial to find that
09:30I was 40 seconds off the world record
09:32I'd lost two stone in
09:34weight to make myself competitive in the
09:40area so my coach at the time spoke to
09:42British cycling and he said is there any
09:44chance of this young gentleman who's
09:46broken his back maybe having you know
09:49having the chance to to cycle for Great
09:52Britain and the British Paras cycling
09:54team said okay we'll take Mark away to
09:57five races just to try him out cuz we're
09:59one year now from the London par
10:01Olympics I came back with five medals
10:05they immediately shipped me up to
10:06Manchester cuz they British cycling were
10:09now thinking we've actually got a
10:10potential medal you know a medal hope
10:16wow so I was now part of the biggest
10:18sporting organization in the world
10:21training for the biggest sporting event
10:23on the planet and it's in my
10:28wow so the training started the racing
10:31started and that was my road to the
10:36Olympics which was a fantastic
10:41however my dad rang me one day and said
10:44look son I need to speak to you I said
10:46course so I went home to be told that my
10:50dad had stomach cancer so from this
10:53euphoric feeling to being disappointed
10:55was horrible a horrible experience for
10:58me a later I raced in the road World
11:01Championships and won a silver
11:05medal 3 months later I was invited to
11:08race in the world track championships to
11:11only be told one week before I left that
11:13my dad may not be there when I come
11:17home he was given two weeks to live my
11:21dad said go to Los Angeles then and win
11:23that gold for me and I did unfortunately
11:26when I came back my dad had passed away
11:31horrible experience dealing with a gold
11:35medal to then dealing with my dad's
11:37funeral but as we all know life goes on
11:40and it was not long to go now 6 months
11:43before the London par Olympics training
11:45and racing as hard as I physically could
11:48not to give up I won two silver medals
11:51in two World Cups and then was
11:53invited to the official launch to
11:56represent par Olympics GB at the L L par
12:03wow this dream was now becoming a
12:06reality all the hard work was done it
12:08was now time to perform for Mr Nice
12:12sky so my first race the Sprint four
12:22can silver medal the very first medal
12:26won at the London par Olympics an
12:28amazing achievement 2 years hard
12:32work the 10 m time trial another silver
12:37medal but not the ones that I came
12:42for because I wanted that medal for my
12:49dad what I'd like to show you now is my
12:54race from the London par Olympics
13:04no to the gate this time marks away
13:07pushing into this first Corner star to
13:08get over the top of the gear no problems
13:11whatsoever getting away for this time 12
13:14laps of the track and as we watch the
13:16final get underway for the record the
13:17bronze has just been wor while we were
13:19talking by Rodrigo Lopez of Argentina
13:22who has got the bronze now let's see who
13:24gets the goal here and watch's the
13:27lights that gives you the guidance here
13:28as as we start toin is down by 1.1 on
13:31their start now we know the mark as a as
13:34a slow start that's that's part of his
13:36St and he'll start to wind it up now
13:37hopefully just making sure that leang is
13:39not going to try and go for the catch
13:40you know he quite quick so you could
13:42actually try and Chase in but don't
13:43think there's any trouble that at the
13:44moment he's holding out on him the great
13:46danger of having such a wonderful
13:48audience is you react to the audience
13:50rather than ride to your schedule or the
13:52man on the other side of the track and
13:54you sell out before the last kilometer
13:57now this is a good sign in my opinion
13:59that Mark has go off the mark a little
14:01slower been called forward by his coach
14:05dragging for just telling he's a little
14:06bit behind Shades needs to pick up a
14:10bit still it's the Chinese Rider
14:13reaching the opposite side of the track
14:15first it's 1.1 181 the deficit now as we
14:18go through the first
14:22kilometer and the first kilometer time
14:26117611 and not a particularly fast open
14:29kilm here yeah Leu is definitely up on
14:31what he was this morning it'll be quite
14:33interesting to see how much quicker he's
14:34going to go and Coen is coming back and
14:36as always this incredible crowd spots it
14:39before I do he's now inside a second
14:42he's now near half a second the
14:44steamroller is in progress as you know
14:47Mark's a good time trialist on the road
14:49as well so he'll know what to do here if
14:50anybody can actually lift this second
14:52part mark can do it here we go as he
14:55closes in now they're almost locked on
14:57the opposite sides of the track up and
15:00now Mark has reversed it by 210 of a
15:03second the stadium roof has just gone up
15:0620 ft as he now goes down the back
15:08straight and he's now work in progress
15:11he's nudging it out to nearly a second
15:14well in the sit on Mark a great Pur
15:16he'll know what he's going to do here he
15:17shouldn't tire and the Chinese Rider
15:19Tred to go very very fast on him setting
15:21a much faster time he did this second
15:23half up on the first kilometer but
15:24Martin knows what he's going to do it
15:26won't be long I think before you'll
15:27actually have the Chinese Rider in his
15:29sites don't let's get overconfident now
15:31Neil as he comes around into the 2 km
15:34Point here this is at the 23 distance
15:37now and the crowd in front of me has
15:39always blocked my view as they all stand
15:41up 235 for the second kilometer and 3
15:45seconds I take it all back nail he's got
15:47the rider in his sights yeah I know
15:49Mark's going to do it I know he can haul
15:51him in he'll haul him in around about a
15:52second and a half a lap now we really
15:54set to pull up on him there he comes off
15:57that banking with that beautiful
15:59streamline top pursuiting position here
16:02Mark cin 42 years of
16:05age this could be the first gold medal
16:07for the Welshman would of a surprise
16:09yester him in the kilo but he knows this
16:10is the one he wants this is the one he
16:12came for Mark cin who broke his back in
16:15a paragliding fall when his wing
16:18collapsed and he fell 40 ft that was in
16:21May 2009 in August 2012 is about to
16:26become a par Olympic gold medalist look
16:29at in fly it might he might not even
16:32reach it yes it will just about he won't
16:34catch him in 3 km the bell's gone for
16:37the last lap yeah the coach has given up
16:39on tell him what schedule he's on he's
16:40just ping at the Chinese Rider go and
16:43him he's closing in rapidly and he might
16:46just get on his slipstream as he comes
16:48off this banking into the finishing
16:50straight he's 100 me behind him as he
16:53lines up for the finish the world record
16:55has just gone by but he doesn't care oh
16:58my goodness it hasn't it hasn't a new
17:01world record as well it's about 11 11 of
17:05the second he's got the world record
17:07amazing what a way to win gold medal
17:09second your own record you can't go back
17:13to that M two world records and a goal
17:15medal from two performances today mark C
17:20fantastic amazing possible finally
17:24finally achieve my dream but as we all
17:30when you win a par Olympic gold medal
17:31and you have this euphoric
17:33feeling they give you something
17:38else that was the dream I had Al be it
17:41two years ago and my feeling is that
17:44Winners never quit and quitters never
17:48win another feeling that you get is when
17:50you get your own paral Olympic gold
17:53wow and a gold post box
17:56however there's somebody missing off
18:00picture Mr Nice Guy so I leave this with
18:04you the thought of me staring at the
18:07ceiling in hospital for 94 days proves
18:11that dreams do come true they really do
18:14and I think for me now being awarded the
18:17MBE which is a fantastic
18:20achievement I'll take that dream and
18:23hopefully I'll see you all in Rio thank
