Trio of crashes to triathlon
A man who was seriously injured in three serious bike crashes is getting set to push his body to the limit again in a world championship multisport event.
After travelling a long road to recovery, Steve Webber and wife Louisa from New Plymouth are off to compete in the Xterra World Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii.
‘‘It’s a pretty surreal feeling at the moment but we’re looking forward to getting there and testing ourselves and see how we stack up,’’ Steve said.
In 2003 Steve was involved in the first of the serious crashes which have all left him severely injured.
He was training for a road triathlon when he was knocked off his road bike by a truck carrying building supplies.
The supplies came loose, hit him and sent him catapulting off the bike, knocking him unconscious and causing internal bleeding.
‘‘We’d just bought a house so I had no idea where I lived, and I still have no recollection of what happened,’’ he said.
The second crash - a motorbike racing accident in 2009- saw him fall short on a jump which sent him over the handle bars knocking him unconscious and breaking all his ribs on one side.
‘‘Everyone thought I should sell the bike after that accident,’’ he said.
But it wasn’t enough to put him off the sport and in 2014 he did it again.
That time he didn’t just break his ribs, but also his collarbone and back.
‘‘He was in a bad way,’’ Louisa said. ‘‘I was bedridden for a month and in hospital for two weeks,’’ Steve said.
He also got pneumonia from his broken ribs.
‘‘I couldn’t help Louisa with the kids and it was hard and extremely frustrating laying there helpless while Louisa did everything.
‘‘I couldn’t get out of bed and was in a world of pain.’’
In between Steve’s recoveries the pair have also had two children Quinn, 7 and Jamie, 4.
In the last three years, as well as juggling kids and work, the couple have
"I couldn't get out of bed and was in a world of pain."
Steve Webber
found the time to train for a triathlon.
With lots of early starts before work, the couple often tag-team their training, taking turns to look after the kids or get out for a run or a bike ride.
They qualified for the Xterra world champs in Hawaii by completing a New Zealand world championship event in Rotorua.
They will have to complete a 1500m swim, a 32k mountain bike and and 10.5k trail run in temperatures around 30 degrees, quite different to those the pair are used to in New Plymouth.