Sowerby just glad to be at Whistler after heavy fall (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Sowerby just glad to be at Whistler after heavy fall

4:32pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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Jane Sowerby is realising her ambition to become a British Paralympian just seven weeks after an injury threatened to put her dream on hold for another four years.

The 34-year-old sit-skier took her place in a seven-athlete British alpine skiing team as the Paralympic Winter Games got underway last night with the opening ceremony in Vancouver.

As recently as January 23, though, Otley-born Sowerby believed her chance to compete at Whistler Mountain had gone after a heavy fall left her nursing a broken collarbone for the second time in three months.

Sowerby, who lives in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, initially fractured the collarbone during a pre-season training run in Austria in November but, having recuperated, she then suffered a similar fate in Colorado.

"It was quite a bad fall. I was forerunning a Super-G race and it was quite fast on icy conditions and soon as I landed I knew that I’d done it again," said Sowerby.

"And, of course, the first thing that went through my head was ‘well, that’s it, it’s over; it’s too close for me to recover from this one’.

"I got a sled down to the ski clinic and I was really upset, thinking that was it, but then I had a long discussion with the doctor and spoke to the team manager (Dave Chugg) and coach (Jane Stevens) and we realised it was still possible if we did everything by the book.

"As an athlete, I wanted to push it harder than anyone else but they’ve been reining me in and making sure that I pass all the medical assessments and didn’t send me out here too early."

Sowerby, who is paraplegic following a fall six years ago, also credits a metal plate attached to her collarbone for helping her take her place on Team GB.

"It obviously hadn’t healed completely and it was a high impact fall and it just snapped in the same place unfortunately.

"This time I actually broke it properly so it meant that I got a metal plate put on it. That sounds extreme but it actually halves the recovery time and if I hadn’t had that I wouldn’t be here now or had the chance to be at the Paralympics.

"The team were really great and made sure I went straight to the hospital for the operation the same day and that speeded up the recovery time.

"I had physio support and strength and conditioning support to make sure that I did everything exactly right to aid healing."

A former music programming manager for MTV, Sowerby decided to become a full-time athlete three years ago and was grateful for backing from the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme in helping make the transition.

"They supported me right from the start," she said. "For my first season racing, I was completely self-funded, apart from this grant that Lloyds TSB gave me.

"When I gave everything up to take on this seriously, that was one of the big considerations. I had a really good job in London and was earning a decent amount of money and I knew I had to give all that up and find a way to finance my skiing.

"So the offer from them definitely helped me make my decision.

"It makes such a huge difference when you’re completely self-funded, and they’re really good at supporting up-and-coming athletes and giving them that financial support that they need. And they’ve continued to support me since then, which is fantastic."

Sowerby’s injury did, however, mean she will have to miss her speed race, the Super-G, at Whistler and concentrate on the more technical giant slalom and slalom events at the end of next week.

"I’m really disappointed about that," Sowerby said. "Super-G is my favourite event but I still get to race and I can kind of see what (her team management) were thinking.

"I’ve not had long to build my confidence again and it is quite a full-on hill.

"It’s really good fun but it is fast. I guess they are a bit cautious."

Sowerby has been less wary, though.

"I’ve surprised myself. I thought I’d be skiing more tentatively than I am. I think because I know that there’s metal in there I’m convinced that it’s not going to break again," she said with a laugh.

Lloyds TSB is providing up to £1,000 to over 270 emerging young sportspeople identified each year across Britain, in the run up to London 2012 and beyond.

Visit www.Lloydstsb.com/Localheroes