Army veteran to lead Team GB at Invictus Games
AN army veteran from Wales, who lives in constant pain after being injured in an accident which killed two comrades, will lead Team GB at the Invictus Games in Sydney.
Mark “Dot” Perkins from Cardiff, will travel to Australia with 71 team-mates for the games which run from October 20-27 and will be attended by Prince Harry and Meghan on what will be Meghan’s first confirmed foreign tour as a member of the Royal Family.
The former corporal in the Royal Signals suffered severe hip and leg injuries when the army vehicle he was travelling across Kenya in skidded on an oil spill and overturned 18 years ago.
Mark, then aged 25, suffered left hip and leg injuries as he was flung under the vehicle with two others, both of whom were killed. After going through multiple operations, training for last year’s Invictus Games helped with Mark’s recovery.
The games,in which wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and veterans take part, were created by Prince Harry and first took place in 2014.
Supported by the Help for Heroes sports recovery team Mark was chosen to captain the GB team this year after a tough selection process. He will also compete in cycling, rowing and driving.
After a medical discharge from the army in 2005 Mark, now 43, went on to train as a physiotherapist at Cardiff University and now works as a civil servant rehabilitating injured soldiers at RAF St Athan.