Aiming high Amputee snowboarder sets his sights on Paralympics glory
A FEW years ago, Andy Macleod was lying in hospital having had his leg amputated. Now he is vying for a place in the snowboarding team for the Winter Paralympics, reports VICTORIA WELDON
AFTER having his lower leg amputated and suffering a traumatic brain injury in a road accident, Andy Macleod would have been forgiven for taking things easy.
The 27-year-old was hit by a speeding driver while cycling and had to spend a month in hospital before undergoing intense rehabilitation, with a prosthetic leg below his right knee.
But the Scot, originally from Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, was determined to continue with his love of outdoor sports – so much so that he is now in the running to compete as a snowboarder at the Winter Paralympics.
Mr Macleod, who lives in Stirling, had snowboarded only twice before the incident, but is now regularly competing internationally and “over the moon” to be pushing for a place on the UK Paralympic team for Beijing 2022.
The sportsman was just 18 when he was hit by a car travelling at twice the legal speed limit while studying in Fort William in March 2011. He was going to a friend’s barbecue when it happened.
“I don’t remember anything about it at all,” he said. “I was cycling to a friend’s and was hit by a car that was going way too fast.
“It happened on a Monday night and the last thing I remember was checking my bank balance at the cash machine.
“Afterwards, I received a traumatic brain injury. I can barely remember anything. I was left with attention, concentration and memory issues.”
Mr Macleod spent a month in the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, but was back on his bike five months after the accident, determined not to give up on his love of outdoor pursuits.
He said: “I’ve always been into the outdoors.
“I used to do downhill mountain biking and trail biking.
“I went to university to do adventure tourism management and most of the people on the course did either skiing or snowboarding.
“I went to Nevis Range twice and loved it straight away – I was landing jumps on my second day.”
He decided to pursue the sport further on a trip to visit his brother in the United States shortly after his injury.
While there, he read an article about a snowboarder who had a leg amputated above the knee and decided to give it another try.
He said: “In the winter of 2011 I took up snowboarding after being given the go-ahead by doctors and nurses.
“It was quite interesting but very frustrating at times trying to get my feet to do what I needed them to do without unbalancing myself.
“I had to think about how to do it differently, it took quite a while to get used to it. But because I was new to snowboarding I didn’t have any bad habits.”
In 2018, Mr Macleod took part in his first snowboarding competition after travelling to Austria with the British Winter Olympics team just a few months earlier.
Mr Macleod said: “I went out with the able-bodied British Winter Olympics team and the entry level GBX team to Austria. It was really good to get the experience and I surprised myself with the results I got.
“January last year was my first competitive competition, in the
Czech Republic. I came 11th out of 32 and that was against able-bodied people.”
This year Mr Macleod was invited to go to The Netherlands with the UK Paralympic snowboarding team.
He said: “It went really well. The first run I did I came ninth out of 18 and was within 10 per cent of a podium place, which qualified me to officially get on to the Paralympic snowboarding team. It was fantastic, I was over the moon – really, really pleased.”
Since then he has received support from both UK Sport and the Scottish Institute of Sport.
The organisations provide him with a personal trainer, physiotherapist and a nutritionist, as he prepares to push for a place at Beijing 2022.
Later this month the determined snowboarder will take part in the World Championships in Pyha, Finland and next month he will be travelling to compete in the World Cup final in Klovsjo, Sweden.