OllieBray.com

Dead Man Cycling - the inspirational story of David Smith, MBE [@DSmithGB]

If you watch one thing on the television over the next 25 days then watch 'Dead Man Cycling'.

The hour long documentary tells the extraordinary story of Gold medal-winning Paralympian (and former Kingussie High School Pupil) David Smith, MBE. 

If you live in the UK you can watch the programme for the next 25 days on BBC iPlayer.

Gold medal-winning Paralympian David Smith has faced many struggles in his life and career. The professional karate champion, athlete, bobsleigh brakeman, rower and now cyclist faces the biggest battle - for his life.

David Smith was born with clubfoot and came close to having his feet amputated at birth. After spending his first three years learning to walk in special boots and plaster casts, a career in Olympic sport seemed doubtful. However, that was just a hurdle he needed to get over and it was not going to hold him back.

David from Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands, is nothing if not determined. Despite his disability, he has succeeded in following his sporting dream first representing the UK at karate, Scotland at athletics and the UK at bobsleigh before deciding that rowing offered him the best possible chance of living his dream of Paralympic stardom.

However, nine months before London, David was diagnosed with a rare tumour on his spinal column and battled to regain fitness after life threatening surgery. Determined to win gold again, this time in cycling in Rio, David received devastating news that the tumour had returned and another battle against the potentially lethal illness started.

Dead Man Cycling follows David over the 18 months before, during and after his second spinal surgery. It is an emotional story of David's sheer inner strength and utter determination as he fights to live and ultimately regain fitness.

Never known to do anything by halves, David sets himself the seemingly impossible goal of attempting to cycle one of the world's most notorious cycling climbs - Mont Ventoux. Not once, but three times in a day - all just six months post-surgery. But, will the Dead Man Cycling make it?

David's website is also really worth exploring. Not just to find out more about this extraordinary man but to explore some of his beliefs and routines that have allowed him to do so well. I particularly recommend the page (and sub-pages) on 'wellness'.

 

 

 

Disk Golf and Hybrid Sports

I was walking through the park in Lethbridge, Alberta a couple of weeks ago and became fascinated by what I thought were very strange looking litter bins.

It was quickly pointed out to me that in fact they were ‘golf holes’ designed to be used with a Frisbee or a disk. Apparently ‘disk golf’ is pretty popular in USA and Canada – but I had never heard of it before. 

When I took these pictures it was a rainy day but when I drove past a few days later there were loads of people playing it on a Sunday afternoon (some people even had different colored disks designed to be thrown different distances!).

What I thought was good about it was how an activity like this could really add values to a public space. I also wondered how easy it would be to re-create this activity on school playing fields or open spaces near schools.

Courses wouldn’t need to be permanent like the one that I saw in Canada – you could easily set up temporary ones or have the children design their own course using their local surroundings. The cost to a school buying twenty Frisbees is very cheap compared to an investment in other sporting equipment.

Interestingly, there are actually a few permanent disk golf courses in the UK and Ultimate Frisbee is also a pretty popular activity at Universities.

The idea of engaging young people in ‘hybrid sports’ is one that really fascinates me. Louise Jones was telling me about ‘Cage Cricket’ a few months ago and again I think that this would be really popular with young people.

Have a look at the YouTube video below if you have not heard of Cage Cricket before.