CHAIROBATICS
BRAVE Lily Rice knows all about the dangers of her chosen sport. But she hasn’t let it stop her conquering the world of wheelchair motocross (WCMX). Lily, 16, suffered a horrific fall at a skate park two years ago but has fought back to become the women’s champion of WCMX, which is similar to BMX and skateboarding. Now, when she is about to launch herself, her body often freezes. Lily said: “When I’m on the edge sometimes my body doesn’t push itself over, it won’t happen. “Dropping into steep ramps is a critical part of wheelchair motocross. I know I can do it, my brain is saying I can but my body is saying I can’t.” In a BBC documentary tonight, Lily faces her fears and tries to put her accident behind her. She is the first woman in
BY RECORD REPORTER Europe to land a backflip in her chair and the second worldwide.
Aged eight, she was diagnosed with rare muscular disorder hereditary spastic paraplegia, which would get worse over time.
At first Lily, of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, struggled to come to terms with having to use a wheelchair but when she discovered WCMX, her chair went from confining her to being the very thing that set her free.
“I thought the chair was a negative thing and it was me giving up. I didn’t want people to look at me like I was disabled.
“But then I thought, ‘What’s the point in hiding it? I may as well get on with it and show people what I can do.’”
After some research, and persuading her parents to support her in the sport, they got Lily a custom-made chair.
Lily took to WCMX like a natural
– within seven months she landed a backflip after intensive training.
She said: “I’d spend hours on the same ramp just trying to get it right.
“I fell a lot, forwards, backwards, sideways. But eventually I landed it and it was the best feeling ever.”
But after a bad fall at the end of 2018, Lily’s confidence was badly bruised. She leaned forward too much and slammed face-down on the floor, blood spilling from where she had bitten right through her lip.
She said: “I don’t remember it, I passed out.”
Paramedic dad Mark was at the park and checked Lily over before she was taken to hospital.
He said: “Thankfully, she was OK. I don’t want people thinking they can just go and drop in for the first time on a ramp like that. You have to train an awful lot.”
Now she has her confidence back, Lily hopes WCMX will be included ∙Defying in the Paralympic Games one day.
Gravity: Our Lives is on BBC1 tonight at 7.30pm.