Motorbiking
Claire's next challenge will be on her motorbike as she has been given the unique opportunity to ride a lap of all of the circuits in the Bennetts British Superbike Championships. Before each race she will be interviewed before being lifted onto the bike and completing a lap of the circuit in front of 1000's of Superbike fans ... a truly daunting but fantastic challenge for Claire.
Assen
Brands Hatch
Cadwell Park
Donnington Park
Knockhill
Oulton Park
Silverstone
Snetterton
Thruxton
Claire had a life changing accident whilst eventing (horses) in 2007 leaving her paralysed. She lost all movement and sensation from the chest down so it turned her life upside down.
She has rebuilt her life- getting married and having two girls, a new career as a speaker, voluntary fundraising (now reached £700k) and found new sports.
One of those sports is motorcycling. The Bike Experience is a charity that gets motorbikers back on their bike after an injury or illness. Claire got an invite to ride a motorbike. Her initial thought was "this is crazy- the only part of the bike I can feel would be the handlebars and how would I balance?!" However she decided to give it a go
It has gone on from there. She has sat on the floor a fair few times, and it has been somewhat challenging and still is! In 2017 she got her ACU (race licence) on her second attempt, and now comes the next big challenge in her life: to ride a lap of each of the circuits in the Bennetts Superbike Championship - this will seem a long way as her arms , shoulders and neck do extra work as she has no strength in her core muscles. It will take a lot of training to build up her stamina and get more experience to take on the UK's best race tracks.
The bike has hand control gears , velcro on her knees to stop them flapping and toe clips to stop her feet sliding. Claire has someone launch her and some poor person has to trust her as she rides towards them as they catch her.
It will be a huge personal challenge but her aim is to raise as much as she can for Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation (to help cure paralysis), The Bike Experience (to get people on bikes) and The Matt Hampson Foundation (to help injured sports people
Claire's first ever go on a motorbike
Claire's first practice at Mallory Park
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