The Duratus Mind - Mark Colbourne MBE - Paralympic Gold Medalist

Mark Colbourne MBE overcame life changing adversity in the form of a severely broken back to a paralympic gold medal.  A paragliding accident in his 30's when his life's passion was living a healthy active lifestyle came as a crushing blow.  But from keeping a positive mindset, setting goals and taking on the challenges in his way saw him far exceed any expectations his doctors could have foreseen.  He threw himself into cycling and it was only a few short years before he found himself in the dream position of being in the final of London 2012 Olympic track event. 

Mark tells his inspiring story in this video and we can all learn more about the benefits of chasing big goals, fully committing to something, never giving up and the power of a strong mindset.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Okay, Mark, uh welcome to the latest episode of the Duratus Mind podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Thank you, Gary. Pleasure to be here, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Nah, it's really good to have you on. Um I I was actually uh brought on to you and your achievements uh as someone that would be willing to maybe come onto the show and and give us some insights into your uh background and and and history uh with regards to the successes that you've had. For those people listening that are kind of uh uh wondering about the podcast a little bit, I just remind people it's really me trying to get to the bottom of what it takes for some people to achieve great things, what it what it's taken some people, I should say, um, and what are the key things that they think they've uh needed and used and lent on to really achieve that. And and again, with a man that's uh sat, I see the pictures behind you, but also um the achievements that you've reached. That not many people on the planet can can say to have done that. So I'm really looking forward to you telling your story and uh helping people piece it together for themselves. So so, Mark, do you mind giving us as a quick kind of talk through your your brief career uh up to where you are today, really?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yes, very much. So, well, you know, first and foremost is my gratitude to you to say thank you, you know, for inviting me on to your wonderful show. And obviously, hi hi to all the listeners, um, you know, out there in uh in internet land, as we call it nowadays. The world is such a small village these days, you know. Um so I think first and foremost is to take the listeners back, you know, all the way back to when I grew up in the 70s, and you know, these wonderful Richard Burton, Dulcet tones, you know, I feel very privileged, you know, to be born and bred in Wales, you know, uh I suppose a very proud Welshman, you know, through and through, you know, as just a normal working class guy, you know, I certainly wasn't born a world or paralympic champion, Gary. Um, I was actually born Margaret's boy, believe it or not. So, you know, being the son of Cecil and Margaret was just a great time in the 70s and the 80s. And one of my passions when I was growing up as a child, and then into my teenage years, was sport. You know, I've always been a big advocate of health and well-being, but my passion, believe it or not, was sport. And I guess in the 70s and the 80s, we didn't have the Xboxes, Gary, we didn't have the internet, you know, we we literally had pinball machines and you know, probably probably the odd, you know, TV or radio, and that was about it, really. So, so I I literally spent most of my life, and I mean most of my life, either running the mountains, kicking a football, or passing a rugby ball or riding my bike, you know. Um, so so it was it was a great time, you know, growing up in the 70s and the 80s, you know, it definitely was. That definitely gave me the skill set, you know, to to then use those skills in in my working life when I started working, you know, in my 20s. So yeah, it was a great time growing up, you know, it really was thoroughly enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Can I just pause you there, Mark? Because uh this is something I I mean I've spoken to a lot of sports people on this pod, or a few certainly, and and most of the other people, almost uh almost all of them, um, have had a background in sport. And the more I think and talk about this, the more I uh uh become convinced that that that competition, that contest that you were prepared to enter each time was was really significant in getting you very used to dealing with the emotions of success and failure and challenge, more importantly. And and I was very similar, played almost every sport, every sport I could actually, never particularly winning um or of it to a high standard always, but always competitive. And I was sometimes fiercely competitive. Is that is that something that you'd think as I mean, obviously you've opened with that, but is that something that you uh uh hold a lot of value to?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yes, and I think the one thing that I I certainly feel very grateful for from my childhood into my teenage years is is the opportunity to embrace what the body can give you. And what I mean by that is the endorphins that we that we have naturally, you know, in our body. And and when you when you enjoy daily those endorphins, which are free, the only thing you have to do is move, whether it's very slowly or very quickly, it doesn't matter. And I think what I became very close to was that feeling. I wouldn't use the word addiction because I think that's a completely different subject, but definitely the feeling of wanting to feel so amazing, you know, every day. Some days I would be exhausted, and my mother would naturally give me a telling off, you know, for training too much or you know, cycling too far or running too far. But it's an incredible feeling when you um participate in an activity and then you rest and you fuel up because when you rest and recover after exercise, that's when the magic happens, you know, and that's what I became very, very passionate, you know, to those feelings. Whereas most of my friends would just be watching TV or you know, chasing girls, which is fine, you know, which is fine. But from a very, very young age, the more experiences that I had, and the fitter I became and the stronger I became, I also became mentally strong because every day there were different challenges being thrown at me through training and sport and activity, that I just had this incredible uh ability to have a complex brain to overcome whatever life threw at me. What I did embrace was the amount of resilience, the layers of resilience that life gave me, you know, and how to adapt to change. I just became very, very driven, but driven based upon the feeling that it gave me.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

I absolutely agree. This is one of the things I spoke about with uh Adam Peety, the Olympic swimmer. Um, and he talks about arena skills, you know, those butterflies that people get in their stomachs, everybody get everybody, no matter who you are, get get in your stomach. I have often spoken to people, sounds very similar to yourself. I just became familiar with those and understood what that meant for my body going forward. I was going towards a challenge. Now most people feel that sensation and uh see feel a bit threatened by it, and so we'll retreat from that. Whereas Adam speaks about well, no, these are arena skills, that feeling that he gets, he recognizes it. He still to this day gets certain sensation that um take over in his body these these feelings of uh competition or challenge, and that means he's got to do something with that rather than retreat from it. And again, I'm hearing this in in a lot of what you say, and that competitive variety that you had um has really helped you to thrive in this area. Is that would would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Most definitely 100%. And anybody out there who's never done any activity whatsoever, they will never understand. Even the people who never run for a bus, they walk for a bus and they always miss it. Okay, they run, they you know, they they think about running, but it's like, oh, just yeah, it's not for me, you know. It's because the body has not been adapted to react, even though we are born with the fight or flight syndrome, which is natural to us as human beings, it's it's just because they've never experienced it, they don't understand it. I used to really enjoy being absolutely shattered, you know. Um, and most of my friends thought it was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

I said that, I said that to my wife the other day. She was like, uh, because I was I was been for a long, long run, and I was I was I was shattered to be perfectly honest that evening. And she was like, Are you sure? You know, you know, everything's all right. No, no, no, this is this is good, this is a good feeling. I feel like I've uh I've achieved, I've done, I've used this this gift, this body of ours, you know. Um so I still feel that like that now. Um you had some you had some quite early success, Mark, in your in your sporting career, do you want?

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Well, I suppose moving um, you know, through my teenage years into you know my 20s, I actually played volleyball for Wales um, you know, for nearly four years, uh played in three British championships. Um, I just thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of training hard and then succeeding. It's almost like studying for exams, you know, then you know sitting in that room, uh participating in the exam and then passing it. It's that feeling that you get, you know, when the brain omits, you know, those serotonins and you know, the the chemicals, the happy, the happy chemicals that we get, you know. Um, so yeah, thoroughly enjoyed that. Um, and then I got married, you know, settled down, and uh my wife and I had my my daughter, you know, in 1994. So it was a great time for me, having felt that I'd trained hard, you know, for probably the best part of yeah, it was probably a good 10 years in sport, or like you, all different types of sport, and uh just took a really big love to volleyball. Um, you know, playing for Wales. I had a British trial in Lillershaw, um, you know, in the Olympic training camp. At the age of 21, and it was a great moment for me. Um a little nerving, you know, obviously quite quite unnerving to turn up being six foot one and finding out I was the shortest there. So, but it was great fun. You know, I had a huge stand-in jump, it was very, very quick, you know, at the age of 21, exceptionally fast, you know, over that sort of you know 200, 300 meters. Um and and didn't have maybe because I didn't train for endurance, you know, I did, you know, a couple of half marathons and and stuff, but never really, never really enjoyed the you know, the long endurance events, you know. I was all you know, really, really quick and and and fast, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

I listened to something the other day, um, and it was Doc Rivers, a basketball coach, and he was talking about he hears people about practicing playing basketball. He said he never practiced during when he was young, he played basketball. And I used to play all sports, and those those those games you play give you this situation awareness, they give you kind of your orientation in the team and different movement strategies. And this is the stuff that you can some of them can transfer over into a sport. And obviously, your successes came in individual uh events, but this is early success in team sports, and that's again how varied uh your your sporting kind of acumen has been. It's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Oh, 100%, and I I truly loved you know the team environment, you know, on court and off court, because the one thing I never grew up with actually was any brothers or sisters. So for me, you know, to be thrown into this lion's den, you know, with uh you know, with grown men, you know, in the the late 20s and 30s and 40s, I was almost the uh you know the up-and-coming um, you know, player, um, you know, the fledgling, I suppose, you know, of uh of the team. But I loved it, I thrived on it because I just knew that by learning from other people and just becoming that sponge, you know, that uh that I could become even better, faster, stronger, because my goal was initially at the time to play for Great Britain in the Commonwealth Games. Um, unfortunately, didn't get picked, you know. So I guess at a very young age, um, I was dealing with disappointment, you know, I guess, which is quite difficult to deal with at a young age of you know 20, 21. Um, but just had this mindset of, well, I did my best, that's all I could do, and then it was just accept and move on, you know. So it's an interesting point.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

No, just on that, if you don't mind, because uh again, I've I've spoken to many people about this before now. I and again, I I try and relate this to me, I only know mine, but I'm hearing a lot of similar stories in in your sort of early career and up to this point, in the sense that uh I was never afraid to try and fail. It was interesting you mentioned volleyball and you're six foot one, and you're the smallest on the volleyball squad. I'm six foot one now. I don't think I was when I was playing basketball. I was probably, but I was my sport that I probably took the furthest or one of the furthest was basketball. And I I was a 16, 17-year-old young man playing in men's teams. Now I I think back to that now. I wasn't the guy dominating the courts, I wasn't the man kind of winning everything, I was the one just challenging, getting knocked around, getting beat up and bruised most of the time. Um, but I was happy with that because I was I was learning it similar to you, and always learning, adapting, seeing what could what I could do to just to get those gains. And um, I'm hearing so much of that in your story, actually. Excellent. So, how how did you find or why did you transition into cycling and how did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So, when I was um living in Cardiff, you know, working in Cardiff, um, I was lucky to have a good job, you know, a nice company car, big salary. You know, I was divorced, you know, seeing my daughter regularly, and it was just a it just felt a good time, a comfortable time, you know. And uh and I started rock climbing, you know. I I always wanted, even though I think I climbed every tree in South Wales, Gary, um, I genuinely wanted to start rock climbing because I just wanted the challenge, you know, to learn the skills, learn the conditioning. Um, and one of my close friends was a you know, an ex um military soldier, you know, he said, yeah, come come with me. He said, I'll teach you, I'll show you. Um, which was a great, a great time in my life because I really enjoyed learning the skills, you know. Um, I did have a few squeaky bum moments, don't get me wrong, but it was great fun. I really enjoyed it, you know. And then I started racing triathlon because I've always been a good swimmer. You know, it's really weird now thinking about this, but I was always pretty good on the bike. Um, the downside out of the three disciplines was the running, because I just could not get under 78 kilos or 12 stone, you know, um, and trying to race against men in the Welsh League who were probably seven, 10, yeah, 7 to 10 kilos lighter. So I'm okay on the swim because you know it's it everybody almost it sounds daft, but everybody weighs the same in the water. Um, and then obviously strong on the bike, you know, over that 40k or 26 miles. But then on the run, you know, it was always like just watching these people just running past me, you know, it's like, oh, really? But I enjoyed it, you know, it was great, great fun. And I raced in the Welsh League for gosh five or six years, and um, it was brilliant. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it, you know. So then in 2008, um, so to take the listeners back, you know, to whoever's listening, listening to this or watching this as well, um, you know, in 2008, one of my other friends who's also uh an ex-paratrooper uh introduced me to paragliding. And that was just another passion. And I said to John, my mate, you know, who's a paragliding pilot and uh obviously an ex-parrot, I said, Oh mate, I'd love to have a crack of that. That looks great fun, you know. And he said, Well, come along to the club, you know, do your qualifications and uh and just you know, bed in and just enjoy it. And that's what I did. And then on the 2nd of May 2009, which was actually a bank holiday weekend, uh, the club had arranged to fly above Swansea, you know, above the Gower Peninsula, and uh the weather was perfect, Gary. You know, we had probably 20, 21 degrees, blue sky, not not a cloud in the sky, just one of those perfect, you know, perfect bank holiday mornings, and uh 13 or 14 mile an hour headwind coming in off the Irish Sea. So conditions were perfect, yeah, you know. So we all arrived that morning, nine o'clock. We all had breakfast in the beast straw, never forget, you know, all sat there chatting about how good the day was going to be, because it was just perfect, you know. And uh and that day, you know, we had probably about probably about four, maybe four and a half hours of flight time, you know, throughout the day. So you could go up, do some, you know, do some routines and exercises and then come back down. Um and there were there were about 20 of us flying that day. So, you know, the the space was pretty pretty busy up there, you know, which was great.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

And uh and then I'll never forget about 5 p.m. Uh we'd all sat on the hillside, and there's probably about an hour and a half um before the sun starts to set, you know, and obviously when the sun starts to set, the heat drops, and then obviously the wind starts to drop with it. So we're all sat on the hillside, we're about 350 feet above the beach in Rossilly, which is such a stunning part of South Wales on the Gower Peninsula. And one of my mates said to me, Um, shall we go back up? Because we've got about an hour, an hour and a half left. We can go up, do 45 minutes, do a few figuratives, you know, and just finish off the day. So me being me said, Okay, why not? You know, so we launched the canopies, flew off the top of the hillside, and just started enjoying the perfect conditions, you know, and you can imagine the sun is is is dropping down on the horizon, you know, the sky is starting to turn red, and it was just, yeah, it's a perfect, perfect um setup, you know, to a perfect sunset. Unfortunately, about 15 or 20 minutes later, I'm flying across the top ridge about 40 feet above the ground, and I'm literally 90 degrees, you know, to the hillside. And as I dropped the left brake to turn, you know, to face the Irish Sea to get plenty of lift, because obviously there's this pilots coming behind me, you know, three or four hundred feet behind me. And as I turned on the left brake, I just felt the canopy flutter, which is normal, you know, when you're turning. So I dropped the brakes off, just lowered the brakes off to lift off the hillside, and just out of nowhere, this almighty crosswind. And I it's almost like for the listeners listening, it's like black ice for anybody that drives a car who's ever driven over black ice. One second, everything's fine, you're driving along at whatever speed, and the next thing you drive over the over the ice and your steering wheel turns and you just lose control, you know. Um, unfortunately, I didn't have a, you know, I didn't have a steering wheel, you know, to help me. And I basically had what they what they call a full collapse. So the canopy, you know, the nylon paragliding canopy just fully collapsed above my head. Well, I'm 40 feet above the ground, and you haven't got to be a scientist to work out what's going to happen next. And I looked down at the grass and thankfully I was, you know, I was above the top ridge, above grass, because if I'd been probably maybe a hundred foot to my left, I would have been over the beach, and that's a 400-foot drop. So within half a second, I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I'm falling now, and I'm I'm just accelerating faster and faster and faster. And over that two-second period, I was probably traveling at maybe 18 miles an hour in the air, and you can imagine coming down at sort of 30 degrees to the grass, just accelerating. And it probably took me about two or three seconds to hit the grass. And I can I can see my flying boots in front of me now, and just this almighty thud. And I was still conscious, you know, at this point. And within probably one or two seconds, the wind, which was swirling, you know, over the top ridge, caught hold of the paragliding canopy, inflated the canopy, just this almighty whoosh, and I got dragged for probably I don't know, maybe a hundred meters. It was just such a such a scary, scary time for me, you know. Um, and never thought for one moment that uh that I would be in that kind of situation, you know, it just happens so fast. And I'm lying on the floor and I'm staring up, you know, at the at the sky, I'm lying on my back. And obviously, the first thing they teach you in paragliding, if you do get dragged, you know, is to pull in your lines. So as I tried to sit up to pull in my lines, I physically couldn't get my shoulders off the floor. So I thought, oh shit, I'm obviously I'm caught on something, you know, my flying jacket's caught on something. So I tried to turn over and I physically just couldn't move. And my brain was trying to work out what the hell is holding me to the floor. It was like I was velcro to the floor physically, you know. And I thought that's really weird. So as I put my head up onto my chest to look down my body to find all the lines, both my legs were severely twisted. And I thought, shit, they shouldn't look like that. I thought, well, that's weird. Why can't I move my legs? And at this point, I'm trying to turn myself over into the recovery position because I just started to feel disorientated, start to feel sick, and I physically couldn't turn myself over. And my left leg, I can see my legs now, even now we left. Years on my left leg was over my right leg and completely like limp and twisted. So I grabbed my leg, physically grabbed it, pulled it over to put it on the floor to turn over on my side. And I physically couldn't, I just couldn't get myself over into the recovery position because I was conscious if I pass out and I'm sick, I could end up chalking, you know. So I was like, what the hell is holding me to the bloody floor? Because I just couldn't turn myself, you know. So anyway, within this all happened, probably I don't know, this is all happening in two or three minutes, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

And I just mark just one second. Uh so uh again, I've done I've done quite a lot of uh parachuting myself and just trying to uh help the listeners understand just how quickly things can go wrong. Had you had any kind of experience because again, confidence is an amazing thing when when things have never gone wrong before and you don't see the problems before they could and you're just living in this blissful place of this is just amazing experiences. And and again, I I've I've witnessed uh two people I know uh very similar circumstances to what you're describing, but maybe a bit higher, where maybe 150-200 feet they've collided actually, and they're just their canopies have collapsed and they've just been spinning down, fortunately separated just uh above, but still had a serious impact on the floor. Um you know, when you uh when you've got that situation happening and you're in it, you know, did you have any experiences that you you know you said you can remember it vividly? Did you kind of what what thoughts were going around your mind at that stage?

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Yeah, great question, actually, because the first thing I thought to myself when I when I saw my legs, because the the natural reaction when you're trained and programmed, as I said, is to put myself into the into the recovery position, which I couldn't do. Yeah, so the next thing was to find out what the hell's holding me to the floor. So as I looked down my body, saw my leg, I thought, oh shit, I broke both my legs because I had no movement, I couldn't physically move my legs. So that's when I grabbed my left leg and flipped it over just in case I passed out. And then I thought to myself, why am I in no pain? And that was really, really weird. You know, a few pilots looked down, and one pilot, you know, in particular, came running over after he'd literally put his life at risk, you know, to come come to my aid very, very quickly. And I'll never forget him standing by my side. And his words were, Oh my gosh, are you still alive? Because he just knew that after being you know dragged for that amount, I probably was just lucky to survive as it was, you know. So they radioed for the whales air ambulance, who thankfully turned up, I don't know, probably in about 10 minutes. So they arrived very, very quickly indeed. And you know, they stabilized me, uh, put the neck collar onto me, um, you know, gave me morphine. I'd never had morphine before, Gary. Um, you know, I drank lots of strong low as a kid, but bloody hell.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Not as good, it's good, it's not quite as good. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

So the bad news that night when they told me after my MRI and my x-ray that I'd broke my back, you know, I had a huge thoracic fracture at T12, and I'll never forget looking at the doctor and saying to him, sorry, did you just say I broke my back? And he said, Yes, I'm really sorry, you know, I'm really sorry. And I just thought, shit, this is the end, isn't it? You know, this is for me physically, it's just the end.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

What length of time are we talking until you kind of adapted or mentally adapted to what the future was going to look like?

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Yeah, well, I I had uh six titanium pins inserted into my back through T10, T11, and L1 vertebrates, and they're still in today. You know, we're now 11 years on and they're still in. So you can imagine they love me when I walked through the airport security, you know, setting all the alarms off. Um, so so after my operation, um, I had to spend 94 days on my back, you know, every day just staring at the ceiling, being washed, being fed, being turned, you know, so obviously the scar could heal, um, you know, being turned three or four times through the night. So there was sleep deprivation, um, which was tough, you know, which is really tough. And for me personally, and I don't mind sharing this with the listeners because this is this is public knowledge now, you know, I went through a really dark time to the point where you know I had suicide thoughts, um, felt that I went through a you know a long stretch of mental, you know, mental health uh problems. And I think a lot of that was because it it was an environment that I couldn't get out of. I physically couldn't get out of it, you know. Um, and and that was really tough. But maybe that's maybe that's um room for another podcast, Gary.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

But yeah, maybe. I mean, it's interesting. You're again, I'd say that your identity up to that point had been a number of things. It had been this uh active, your dad said action man, you know, it had been this guy that loved to thrive in challenging situations. And I can only imagine the scenario you found yourself in that hospital bed for all those days, 94 days, did you say, where, well, you're having to adjust your self-image, aren't you? You're having to go from from what you saw as up there. Well, what was now going to look like? And and when you get a big gap between ideal self and what you feel like your real self is, that causes a huge amount of stress. There's so many people that speak about that.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah, 100%. And I think for me now, looking back and now being trained, you know, as a coach, you know, as a as a business mentor, you know, with high-level, you know, C C-suite executives, and they they go through the same trauma: apprehension, fear, doubt, and then certainty. And those feelings, when you're living with those feelings day after day after day after day, you almost start to give up. You almost start to think to yourself, am I ever going to get out of this bloody hospital bed? You know, because thankfully I was in no pain. So that was a benefit, you know, because I can't imagine living in a country where they don't have the services that we have, they don't have the pain relief drugs that we have, you know, and and that's why I'm so grateful, you know, as a human being, just so grateful. So, so to answer your question, the 94 days was very traumatic indeed, you know, really traumatic, because it was like my brain and my mind was playing tricks on me. Yeah, you know, but thankfully, after that 94 days, they you know hoisted me out of the bed, um, you know, put me into a wheelchair, and I'll never forget going for my first shower. Okay, this is just such a strange feeling. And going to the shower room, the nurse then obviously helping me to sip me onto the shower chair and just sit in there. And the nurse obviously left the room and I just turned the shower on and just sat there. She said, Mark, I'll come back in about 20 minutes. Because they know they're trained, you're not getting out, you just want to sit there for 10, 15, 20 minutes, you know, just to enjoy that feeling, you know, which I suppose for most people they see it as a basic need and a basic requirement, you know, which which is which it is. So the the next three months then, you know, was all about rehabilitation, you know, on a walk-in frame with crutches. And because when I damaged my back, yeah, I think I ended up with what they call drop foot. So I've got drop foot in both feet. And what that means for the listeners is that I've got no push or pull in both feet. So I've got no plant deflection, no dorsiflexion, my calf muscles don't fire, my hamstrings don't fire, my glutes don't fire. Um, so thankfully, the only muscles that you know weren't affected were my quads and my hip flexors. So when I started to walk with special ankle supports called orthosis, I started to walk by Charlie Chaplin, which is which is great. You know, I can I can laugh about it now, but back then, just seeing myself in the mirrors, you know, in the gym walking, almost like a robot, you know, it was it was tough mentally, it was tough, or just just on me, you know. So the the three months of rehabilitation allowed me then, you know, and maybe it was just using my mindset to go in the gym twice a day, every day, every day, every day, because there was nothing else to do. It was almost like being a professional athlete in rehabilitation, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I was going to ask that because I was aware of the the length of time you spent in rehabilitation and whether you consciously gamified the rehabilitation and set yourself little targets and achieved these and got that dopamine hit that you were used to from the competition and contest. Was that something that you consciously did, Mark? Or do you think all the experiences that you'd had had just that's how you lived your life and continue to live your life?

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah, most definitely. Because I I guess it goes back to the Malcolm Gladwell concept of 10,000 hours and having done a lot more than 10,000 hours of training, sports, competition. Um, I guess my body and my my subconscious just knew that if I went to the gym every day, twice a day, every day, that over time, okay, my disability was never going to change, but my physical strength and my health and well-being, that's what was going to change.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Incredibly challenging time. I know I've I've spoken uh with a few people that have had similar injuries, uh previous podcasts with uh a guy called Mark Ormrod, or you may or may not be familiar, Triple Ampatine.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

I've met Mark, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Incredible, incredible story. Um, and again, these this dark place that you're in, rehabilitation-wise, and daily struggles. And this is where I think people can relate. This people see the the success that you got later, and uh and they they they they can aspire to that. But it's these being a bit able, I think, to uh on a daily basis set yourself a new challenge and go after that challenge to get these small improvements. You already spoken about it, these small marginal gains that um you can chase or not, and this is what most people I think um struggle to connect the dots to. I think they they don't see the benefit of these small daily marginal gains for this compound effect um over time. And it's boring. They want the quick fix, they want the hacks. Well, for your situation, what there was no quick fix, was there?

SPEAKER_00 33:24

No, 100% not, you know, and that's why when I started going to the gym after I left hospital, I didn't go back to work, you know, my job was there, you know. I literally did a couple of weeks, two or three days a week, just to get myself, you know, back into the working environment because I could actually drive with my ankle supports and my orthosis, I could drive, no problem, you know. Um, but I said to my my sales director at the time, John, I said, look, I've had a think about it. And I think it's best that I just you know hand my car keys back and you know, just sign on Job Seekers Allowance, and then maybe in six months' time, 12 months time, if the opportunity is there for me, then I'd welcome, you know, I'd welcome it back, you know. Yeah, and and that's what I did. I signed on Job Seekers Allowance, you know, and uh I'm just needed, I just needed to get fit again, to get healthy again, um, just to yeah, just to ensure that I was in control of my wellness.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

One of the things I'm hearing there, Mark, is people are reluctant to go down or backwards, a perceived down or backwards step, aren't they, for their own benefit. Now, it must have taken a huge amount of humility to sign on for job seekers allowance. Um, you know, as a man that all his life up to this point has achieved and gone after certain achievements and done well in all those things. And so, you know, how how difficult again, because there's going to be people listening that can absolutely relate to that. And you know, I've got personal friends that you know have been in some really dark places, but it's in those dark, low, low places where you found you find your fundamentals, you find your foundation, sorry, and and then you can start building again from there. Is that something you can relate to?

SPEAKER_00 35:11

Yeah, most definitely. And I think you know, having gone through life, um, you know, enjoying sport, enjoying fitness, being strong, um, having some disappointments, of course, um, but at the same time bouncing back, you know, and I've always been one of those people that would rather do it than fail than not do it at all, because technically you've already failed, if that makes sense. But I guess I guess for me personally, I I always knew I had this, um, and I call it the warrior, and everybody has it. We all have this internal warrior personality, but it just depends on how you bring it out for what reason, you know. So to go from a high-paid job, big, you know, big salary, company car to 93 pounds a week. Okay, most of my mates were like, have you lost the plot? You know, and I'm like, no, because the more training I do, the more rest and recuperation I do, the quicker and fitter I become. Common sense for me personally, you know. And at the time I started going to um the Velodrome in in South Wales with Disability Sport Wales. And I had a wonderful cycling coach called Neil Smith. And I'll never forget speaking to Neil and saying, look, I'd like to, you know, participate in some um in some cycling. You know, I broke my back, I've got lower leg paralysis, my quads work, which means that I can I can push and pull on the pedals when I'm clipped in. And I'd started to do some cycling, you know, on the roads again, albeit very, very slowly. And uh, and Neil said, Yeah, yeah, no problems. I'll come get you a track bike now from the you know, from the storeroom. So he came back 15 minutes later with this track bike, and this is a true story, and it had stabilizers on it. And I looked at this bike and I said to Neil, whose bike's that? He said, It's yours. I said, What do you mean it's mine? He said, Well, you're entitled to use it every time you come here for free through Disability Sport Wales. And I said, I am not getting on a bike with bloody stabilizers, you're having a laugh. And he said, Okay, I'll put it back in the storeroom then. I said, Oh, he's got me now, hasn't he? So I said, Oh, okay. So you can imagine my my two mates were with me who took me down in the car, and they're both using their camera phones to take pictures. So it was really embarrassing, you know. But for me, it was a step in the right direction.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

So I started cycling, albeit with these bluming stabilizers for a few weeks. And then Neil said, Okay, we can take them off now because my core, I've always had a strong core, but now I've got an extra strong core because I've got six rods, you know, keeping me keeping me still.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Titanium core now.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Yes, exactly. So um, so I just started riding in the Velodrome and obviously cycling then um, you know, on the roads with a um uh well, it was actually a bike shop that used to sponsor me when I raised triathlon. So the owner used to come out with me, and he was an ex-policeman. So it was great to be safe on the road, you know, with this ex-policeman um who almost looked after me, you know, take, you know, taking care of me when we were going out for like 40, 50 mile bike rides, you know. And then out of the blue, and this is where my life just completely changed, okay. Out of the blue, um, Neil rang me, Neil Smith, the cycling coach, rang me and he said, Look, in a in a few months' time, we've got a cycling race in the National Velodrome in in Newport in South Wales, and it's called the the Wales Grand Prix. And he said, Even though you're doing really well, would you like to enter and maybe participate in two races? It took me half a second. I was like, Yeah, you know, I'm in. So I started doing some training ready for these races. I went to the event then in the May. So this is now May 2010, exactly a year after my crash, and I won both the races in my category. So the one race is four laps of the Velodrome, which is like a sprint called a kilo. Um, and it's called a kilo because it's a thousand meters, you know, in distance, because the track is four uh sorry, 250 meters in length. Okay, so it's it's four laps, okay. And then the other race then was a three-kilometer race, which is 12 laps. So you can imagine there's a sprint and then there's an endurance um race, and it maybe the endurance race didn't suit me at the time, you know. Anyway, so so the first thing I did, because this is when Facebook literally, you know, literally started to launch at the time. So I put it on Facebook, you know, just won this incredible double race in the Velodrome with the Wales Grand Prix with Disability Sport Wales. What a great, you know, what a great thing to announce 12 months after busting my back, you know. So you can imagine Facebook lit up, everybody's like, oh, well done, congratulations, really proud of you, excuse me. And then out in the blue, I get a phone call from a gentleman from the gentleman who treated me on the day of my crash, which is a guy called Ross Griffin. So Ross rang me up and he saw, Mark, I've just seen on Facebook, you've won these races in the Velodrome. Well done. I'm so proud of you, mate. You know, and I'd met Ross a few times and his family to say thank you, you know, for treating me, for saving my life that afternoon above Rossilly, you know. So anyway, we're chatting on the phone. And he says to me, he says, uh, what are you doing in four weeks' time? I said, Oh, nothing really, mate. I said, I'm I'm not back in work, I'm just training and getting myself fit and healthy again, you know. He said, Well, we we've got a cycle ride, um, you know, for the Wales Air Ambulance, and uh, we've got some famous people taking part, rugby players, you know, some athletics guys and famous people. Would you like to take part? I said, Yeah, I'd love to. I'd love to raise money for the air ambulance, you know, to say thank you. So I said, When is it? And he said, Oh, it's in four weeks' time in June. And I said, Okay, where is it? And he said, Well, it's the circumference of Wales, it's 523 miles in a week. And I just thought, oh shit. So I thought, I've got to do this, even if I only end up doing two or three days, I've got to do it. Okay, these people saved my life. I've got to do it. So, anyway, you can picture the scene now, can you? I've turned up first day on my crutches with my bike and my bags, with my sleeping bags, because we were camping out, you know, on this bike ride. So it was literally the four corners of Wales, you know, in a week. So there was lots of famous people there, rugby players, and you know, like I said, athletes and whatnot. So the first day was from Cardiff to Landry Nord Wells to the rugby, the rugby football club in Lind in Landry, Nord Wells, 84. And I'm just keeping myself to myself. Not that I'm an introvert, but I'm almost like a semi-introvert, really, if there's such a thing.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

There is now.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Oh, there is now, yes. I've just I've just launched one. So I'm just eating my food, and this guy taps me on the shoulder and I turns around, and there's this Goliath of a man stood behind me, about six foot one, probably 19 stone of just muscle. I mean, like a big guy, like you know. So he says, uh, all right, fella. I said, All right. He said, Um, when you finish your food, can I have a quiet word with you outside? And he walked off. I shut myself, right? I physically thought to myself, oh my gosh, who is this guy? And and I literally hadn't seen him all day because you wouldn't miss him. He looked like an American football player, right? But it wasn't padding, it was real. So I thought, well, I'm gonna finish my food because we've got another 70 miles to do tomorrow. Yeah, and I'm gonna take my crutches because he's much bigger than me. Just in case. So I goes outside and he stood there with his arms folded. Now I did psychology a long time ago, and I thought, oh, that's unusual. So I stood, you know, a good three or four feet away from him, and he stepped forward and he said, Um, what's wrong with your legs, fella? Uh, well, I broke my back a year ago. I've got lower leg paralysis, you know, hence the crutches. Wow. He said, What did you break then? T10, T11? I said, How the hell does he know that? You know, is he is he maybe uh, you know, um somebody that can see into the future? So, anyway, so we had this conversation about my disability, my accident, and he said, How the hell are you cycling with such a severe disability? You know, I said, I honestly don't know, but I can. So, anyway, the conversation lasted about 15 or 20 minutes. And I said, Can I ask you a question? He said, Yeah, of course. I said, Who are you? He said, My name is Dr. Ben Matthews. I'm a chiropractor from Cardiff. So I understand what's going on in your body, but what do you do? And I said, Well, I was a you know, sales, sales executive, you know, a senior accounts manager, and now I'm on job seekers allowance, you know. Said, um, can I ask you a question? I said, Yeah, of course. No, this was June the 10th, 2010. I'll never forget this day. He said, Um, are you um are you training for the London 2012 Paralympic Games? I said, No. So, why the hell would I do that? I'm 41 years of age. He said, I think you should. And that was it. The light belt moment went off. The hairs went up on my neck, and I said to this guy, do you know what, mate? Thank you. I said, You've just planted a seed, you've just opened the door that I've been waiting for for such a long time, you know. And uh sorry, Mark, it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

I nearly interrupted you a lot the second time, but I've just heard there, and I think this is key for people to understand. Um the the decisions you make when opportunities present themselves to you. So you recognize them first and foremost, but then again, all these experiences you've had in your life have prepared you to take on that challenge and be prepared to face that challenge. So that run into the bus, like you mentioned earlier, trying to catch the bus, is the difference that you've got. You've recognized that you need something that someone's presented uh a velodrome race to you, you've gone, yeah, okay, I don't feel ready for it, but okay, then it's a a cycle around Wales, uh, incredibly long one, endurance one, and you've gone, that sounds well out of my comfort zone, but I'll I'll give it a go. And then this is now the story you're telling, where ultimately the guy, a huge target. Well, what about the Olympics? And you've gone, okay, you know, and that's the difference, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 46:10

And I think when when I spoke to, you know, when I spoke to Ben that day, I didn't know how to help it get to the Paralympics. I just knew it was going to be in two years' time. So I said to Neil Smith, because I knew Neil had trained uh previous world champions, world record holders, Paralympic champions, because Neil's role was as a facilitator for British cycling. So he's a volunteer for Disability Sport Wales. He takes athletes almost as a talent spotter, as a talent scout, gives up his time every Saturday, mentors you know, the riders, um, and then gets them ready for when it's time then to step into the you know the bigger arena, which is British cycling, you know. So I said to Neil, look, I genuinely want to commit 100% to London 2012. I'm not going to go back to work. I'm happy to stay on Job Seekers Allowance because the only thing I needed was a roof over my head, which I had in my parents' house. I bought myself a small car just to get around, and then just money to buy food. That was it. That was all I needed, you know. So Neil said, okay, I need two things from you. I thought, well, that's not too bad, is it? Two things, you know. I said, okay, fire away. He said, well, I need complete open, uh, openness and honesty from you and commitment. I said, what? That's it. And he said, yeah, that's it. That's all I need. He said, everything else will unfold as we go through the process, you know. So I said, okay, let's do it. So I committed to Neil, I shook his hand and I gave him my word. So he ran British Cycling and he said, Look, I've got this bloke. Um, you know, he's just broke his back 12 months ago. I think you need to come and take a look because he's pretty quick. He's quick over four laps and he's quick over 12 laps. Plus, his background is in time trialing in triathlon. So British Cycling said, Well, where's he come from? Because we've we've never seen him before. Who the hell is he? And Neil said, Well, he's fell out of the sky. Literally, you know, literally fell out of the sky. So British Cyclist said, Look, just you know, give it six to twelve months. You need to lose about a stone or seven kilos, and then we'll we'll take a look. So that winter through 2010 into 2011, I went to Crete. Okay, just went to Crete with a girl I was seeing at the time because she had plenty of work out there. So I just trained every day, you know, um, great Mediterranean climate over the warm winter, um, and probably covered about, I don't know, 3,000 miles, maybe three, three and a half thousand miles. Um, and came back, you know, literally. Well, in fact, it was a stone and a half lighter, you know. Um, and Neil then said, you know, when I came back, when I met Neil then in May 2011, I met Neil when I went to the Velodrome. He was like, bloody hell, where's the other half of you? So Neil said, okay, because I'd stayed in touch with Neil every week, he knew my progress, he knew the training I was doing, he knew how I felt, and uh and came back then in the May. And then we had 18 months then before the Paralympics, you know. But it it was back to the controlled environment again, you know, and that's where I just shone. I loved it, I absolutely loved it, you know. Whereas some riders, they they they don't deal, you know, with the with the environment very very well because you're shut off, you know, on your own quite a lot, whether you're training on your own, resting on your own, using the form roller on your own, you know, whatever you're doing, you can spend probably 25 hours a week training, you know, but the best part of 30 hours on your own.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

I'm hearing, I'm hearing a lot of within when because again, I hear what you're saying with regards to the time on your own, and and I know what that takes in the sense of people get confused with discipline and self-discipline. You've got the clearly developed the self-discipline where nobody's watching and you're still putting the work in. And that, you know, what is it that was driving you? You know, was it that that potential gold medal, the opportunity that was there in front of you? Was that what was pulling you towards it? Or was that an intrinsic motivator versus the extrinsic gold medal?

SPEAKER_00 50:27

Yeah, I think uh the one thing that was driving me, I mean, every day, was probably three things. So, for the you know, for the audience, please grab yourself a pen and paper, because this is gold, okay? Is knowing that life is very short and I'm only going to be here once. Because when I was a kid, like I said, I was probably 10, my dad said to me, Mark, please understand, you know, you don't have a stop button, be careful. However, just remember that one day in the future, tomorrow will be your last day. I said, What do you mean? He said, Well, we don't live forever, you know. Just remember that one day in the future, tomorrow will be your last day. And that was a lot for me to, as I said, to really deal with. So knowing that I only had one chance, okay. It was the old scenario, the old saying, excuse my language, is shit or bust, okay, is now or never. Secondly, London was only going to happen once, of course, you know, it was it was never going to come around again. And I think second, sorry, thirdly, knowing that I was not getting any younger. Okay. So if I'd continued on and maybe gone to Rio in 2016, great, you know. However, I would have been, I'd have been 46, you know. So if I'd broken my back at the age of 20 or 30 instead of 40, at least I had time on my side to go and race at another games or even two games. But, you know, I didn't have uh time on my side, you know. So I thought, well, I've got to give this 100%. And I'll never forget having my induction with Professor Steve Peters and him explaining to me the only thing I have to do is to be coachable. If I don't understand something, question it, understand it, learn the skills, apply the skills, and follow the process. So you have to become almost um almost a subcognitive machine that doesn't think. You just do, because you know if the coach that's coaching you who's probably the best of the best, tells you to do something, he's telling you to do it for a reason, you know, to improve or sometimes to rest, to recover, hydration, food, you know, stretching, form roller in, whatever it is, you know. So you almost feel, or I certainly felt, like I was a child once again, where my parents used to explain things to me and tell me things and coach me to do things. So it was a great moment for me. And I had a great coach called Tom Stanton. And if Tom ever listens to this, thank you. Because he was great because he he helped me on the bike and off the bike. You know, we we became great friends, you know, which I suppose you have to, you know, you have to be, and you have to be authentic. And what I mean by that is you have to remove the mask, you have to be yourself. And as the old saying goes, for a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories. You know, you have to be that authentic, accomplished person because you know you're you're putting yourself through pain every day, you know. And most of my mates were like, Are you crazy? Why would you do that? Yeah, because it's a it is a means to an end, but by following the process, the outcome takes care of itself.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

Yeah, absolutely. And a good coach will get you there, completely agree. And you sounds like you had that complete trust in those coaches, um, which is a vital component. So you've you've kindly sent me the video over um of of the actual uh Olympic final. Um can you talk me through it? I mean, how how much pressure did you feel initially sort of into the stadium and the velodrome? Sorry, that that event, and and then sort of in the seconds proceeding the uh the starter's pistol, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Yeah, so for the listeners, you know, and obviously people watching this, um, you know, seven months previous in February 2012, I won the world championships in Los Angeles on the track. So I'd had, I guess, almost an introduction, almost like a rerun, you know, of what it was going to feel like to be in the cauldron, as we call it, you know, even though there was probably, I don't know, maybe about five to seven hundred people in Los Angeles. Um, whereas there was going to be nearly 7,000 in London, you know. So unfortunately, you know, for me, my dad passed away when I was away in Los Angeles, you know, to stomach cancer. So that was a traumatic time for me again, being 12,000 miles away from home, getting the phone call from my mother to say that dad had passed away. We knew he was ill. We knew it was just a matter of time, you know. And maybe, I don't know, maybe maybe for me personally, it's just um a satisfier that I was away and I wasn't there, you know. I don't know how I would have coped, you know, if if I was there watching him pass away. But he passed away in his sleep, you know. Um, and my mother said, you know, he went, you know, very peacefully, which is a blessing and quickly, you know, so that was a blessing for me. So so to come back after winning the worlds to attend my dad's funeral, you know, it was um yeah, it just another form of dealing with trauma once again, you know. So my mindset and my and my heart had been through so many ups and downs over that you know two and a half to three year period, you know. So the run-up to London to answer your question, you can imagine the whole country was just buzzing, you know, everybody was just buzzing. You know, London, London 2012 was just about to happen. And obviously, we had a Tour de France winner with you know Sir Bradley Wiggins, um, and then the Olympics, you know, to watch the Olympics while I was training in Manchester was just an incredible feeling, you know. And personally, I think the Olympics was just a great warm-up for the Paralympics. I just thought I'd get that one in, Gary. So so the whole country just got behind us, you know, and it was an amazing time.

SPEAKER_01 56:44

Can you give us the the the kind of the feelings going into the stadium uh on the on the race day and and how you what kind of pressures did you feel and what coping strategies have you learned to uh develop?

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Yeah, well, obviously we were very lucky with British cycling being under the umbrella, you know, of uh Professor Steve Peters, you know, the great author of the Chimp Paradox book. And you know, Steve literally instills into all the athletes to focus on the process, not the outcome, and to always think logically, not emotionally. And I guess having been through the process of you know training, you know, for for such a long period of time, you don't have to think about doing because the body just does it naturally. It's a natural uh activating system that your body has, you know. And I guess for me, going into the games, it was my first Paralympics and not knowing what to expect, but always focusing on the process, not the outcome. And thinking logically, going through my planner every day, reading my planner, which was based on you know 15-minute increments, so you know where you are, what you're doing, who you're with, you know, you've got all your safety um items with you, you know, you've got antibacterial wipes, so you you know you don't pick up a cough or a cold or a you know a virus or anything. And I'm making sure that you cover all bases because, as you know yourself, you know, prevention is better than cure, you know. So going into the games, I think the only apprehension I had when I spoke to Steve Peters, you know, Dr. Peters, was what if I fail? Which is natural, it's a natural feeling that we all go through in any circumstance. And he said, Well, can I ask you a question? I said, Yeah, of course. He said, Are you gonna give these races 99% and keep your fingers crossed? Or are you gonna give them 100% and leave it all on the track? I said, Well, I'm I'm gonna give it a hundred percent. He said, So you have nothing to worry about. The only thing you have to accept is whatever happens will happen. So in other words, you have to accept the outcome. Are you prepared to win a silver, a bronze, or maybe even, or maybe even you know, finish last? And I said, Well, yeah, because as long as I give it 100%, I have to accept the outcome for the rest of my life. And he said, Well, you've got nothing to worry about. Go and enjoy. And that was it. You know, that was it. So as long as you can accept the outcome of giving it 100%, because you're authentic, you're accomplished, you've removed the mask, and there is no second go, is there? It's not a case of doing okay, but I could have gone faster. It's a case of everything you've done, there's no there's no turning back now. You have to deliver, and that's where the professionalism of being with British cycling, you know, is is exemplary. But on the day, because we're part of Team GB and Paralympics GB, then you know, this moment now I'm racing for my country. And the enormity of representing 63 and a half million people, it can give you, you know, the the squeaky bum moment, but for me, it was just excitement. I'd waited all my life for this moment. It was the it was like a Christmas morning moment, you know. I was just walking around, big smile on my face, you know, cracking jokes, and um I just loved the experience, you know. And for me, the the the three-kilometer pursuit, which is my race, you know, which is the race I won the world champions, uh, championships in, the the young lad from China that morning, he broke the world record in my event. How rude. So my coach said, Mark, do you realize that in the qualification round, you've got to break the world record or get really close to it to put yourself in the final, you know? So I said, okay, Tom, come on, let's do it. Because as the world champion, I had the luxury of riding last. So we set the schedule at three minutes 55, which was about five or six seconds under world record pace. Because if I'm you know two or three seconds over it, I've still beat it and I'm in the final, you know. So I just had to go under the four minutes. So if you think of the Sir Roger Bannister moment, I was the first C1 athlete, which is my category, to go under four minutes. So that morning, Gary, um, we set the schedule at three minutes 55, and I just went out like a rocket. I mean, excitement, you know, um, maybe some inexperience, I don't know, but I just went off like a bloody rocket, you know. And I'll never forget halfway through the race, my coach is literally like, you know, sort of giving me the hand signal to slow down because I'd obviously gone out a bit quick, you know. And uh, and I came over the line on lap 12, looked up at the scoreboard, and there was no time on there. I was like, what? And it just said WR, world record. I was like, shit, wow. So I came off the track, you can imagine, all the coaches, you know, the all the mechanics, they were jumping for joy, knowing that I was now in the final. So half of half of the achievement had been done. I was finally, you know, in the in the final. But what I didn't realize is that I'd broken the world record by seven seconds. I'd absolutely smashed it out of the park, you know. So my coach said, look, go and get yourself a drink, have some food, go and warm down, you know, stretch and come back down then at uh I think it was quarter past two, that I had to be in the velodrome. So went backstage, you know, had my food, had my drink, had a power nap, you know. I actually had a power nap, which is good because when you when you race or train and you eat and sleep, that's when the body produces growth hormones. So it allows the body then to refuel back up with insulin and glycogen, ready then, you know, for literally two or three hours, you know, later for the final. So I'll never forget Gary that afternoon, walking down into the velodrome, and just there was 7,000 people in the crowd. The noise and the heat, there was 28 degrees in there, the noise, the colours, you know, 7,000 people. And I just thought to myself, when I got into the center of the velodrome and I just stopped and had myself a moment, and I thought, my dad would never believe this, would he? You know, my dad would never believe it. So my my you know, my mother was there, my daughter was there, and uh, and then just started warming up. And my coach came over to me, and uh, and and this is a running joke with British cycling because everybody had nicknames, and my nickname was Uncle Brynn, which was a character, you know, a character out of uh you know the Gavin and Stacy program. So Tom comes over and he says, uh Uncle Bryn, how are you feeling? I said, Yeah, I feel great. I've had my sleep and my food and I'm ready. So anyway, finished warming up on the rollers, and he said, Okay, so I'm gonna need a schedule from you, Mark. You know, because it's based on how you feel, is how the schedule is gonna be set. And I said, Do you know what, Tom? I feel better than this morning. You know, I feel more awake, I feel more alert, my legs, you know, obviously felt good, um, having foam roller and stretched. So he said, What what schedule would you like? And I said, Set it the same as this morning, three minutes 55. I'm gonna smash this right out to the park. So I could see Tom looking at me and he said, Are you sure? I said, Yeah, I'm 100% sure. So, anyway, they called my name and number, you know, Mark Colborne, Great Britain, number 42, which was my age, which is really weird. So they helped me up onto the track. The bike is obviously positioned into the gate. So sort of, you know, straddled myself onto the bike, clipped in my cycling shoes, and my coach leaned over and he said, Do this for your dad. Are you ready? I said, Yeah, let's do this. So that's when the commissaire or the judges put their flags in the air, and then it comes over the tanoi. The com, you know, the commentator says, you know, to the crowd, quiet, shh. And it was this quiet, Gary, honestly, 7,000 people. So I'm holding onto the handlebars, focusing on my breathing, my heart rate's up, blood pressure's up, I'm ready. And then obviously the beeps, you know, the five-second beep starts before the gun goes off, you know. So the only thing I'm focusing on is the black blind in front of me, because that's gonna be my home for the next four minutes. It's not worth looking over to Yang Z because you know I've got no influence on his race. But my coach Tom said to me that I had to go out exceptionally quick because he was afraid that Yang Z was going to try and catch me over maybe four or five or six laps. So I said to Tom, do you know what? When that gun goes off, I'm gonna ride that bike like I've stolen it. And I'm from South Wales, so that's easy. So you can imagine when the gun went off, I just went off like a freight train, you know, and wound the, you know, wound up the gear because I ride a big gear and got up to lap four, lap five, and I'm, you know, I'm on on target to about, I think it was lap nine, eight or nine. I think it was lap nine actually. And I looked up the track and I could see Yangtze. I could see the Chinese riders. Literally, you know, 100 meters in front of me. So a lap later, I'm 50 meters behind him. So I'm literally gaining on him, you know. And then on lap 11, I'm probably about 30 meters behind him at this point, and I can feel his slipstream on my face under my visor. So I knew I just had to stay upright. My goal was to try and catch him, of course, but I just kept telling myself, just stay upright, just stay upright, just keep pedaling, keep breathing, stay upright, which is focus on the process, you know. And at that point, all the pain in my legs, all the pain in my lungs, in my chest, in my head, everything just went. It was such a weird, weird feeling, you know, that all this lactic acid pain just went. And I crossed the line, you know, the gun went off. I looked up at the scoreboard and it just said W R once again. I thought, shit, I broke the world record again. I couldn't believe it, Gary. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing, you know. So you can imagine coming off the track. My coach gave me a big hug, said, Well done, I'm really proud of you, you know, and uh and the Velodrome was just a cauldron of noise, you know, amazing memories. So yeah, broke the world record and obviously won my very first Paralympic gold medal for Paralympics GB.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:56

That's amazing. Uh you you showed me before the uh before we started recording, Mark, but you've got the medal next to you, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:03

Yes, obviously, for people on a podcast, I do apologize, but maybe we should go to the YouTube channel on YouTube too to see it, you know. But uh yeah, so this is my Paralympic gold medal. Um, as you can see, it's in a box, it's in a you know, presentation box. Um, the medal itself weighs 400 grams, so you can imagine, you know, it's uh it's a it's a fair chunk of metal, um, largest medals ever made, you know, for Olympics or Paralympics. And uh these were actually made, all the medals were made in the Royal Mint uh here in South Wales. So, you know, there's a great, you know, prestigious piece of history, you know, behind it as well. But uh a child don't dream in a box, Gary.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:44

Almost it's almost as big as your front wheel of that bike. That's a big one. Yeah, no, Mark, it's kind of so. I mean, again, an awesome story, and I genuinely appreciate you sharing that with us. Um, you know, what I hear is a is a man who you know stared adversity in the face, really, and was able to at that junction, incredibly important junction in your life, and you'd had a number of before that as well, but this the the accident, um things could have gone two directions from there, really, couldn't they? But you used it you uh as a as a springboard really to um the rest of your career and the opportunities that that I know of that kind of open themselves to you now because of that that drive, that determination to go pursue that goal. And it's uh it is an incredible story for the people listening. Could you kind of you know that that decision in that moment, what what was the thing that really helped you to get through it and see uh a way out of that, what must have been an incredibly dark place?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:39

Yeah, I think having had uh a very different mindset, you know, to a lot of friends in school and you know, obviously a lot of personal friends, and I think it came back to having belief in myself, okay, just confidence and belief, and and then realizing the importance, as I said earlier on, of having belief in the process. So, whatever you want to achieve as a human being, if it's been done before, just follow the same process, but maybe just do it better, okay. If it's a world record you want to break or a business that you want to run, or even just or even just achieve some self-confidence, okay? Speak to people who's done it before to learn those skills because as we all know, your your mind is there to keep you safe. And Dr. Steve Peters talks about this so well that we have these two voices in our head. There's the human voice, you know, that obviously lives on you know facts and truth. And then you've got the primate voice, which you know acts on um emotions, you know, and fear. So it's how you differentiate those two. And I guess I did it as a as a kid, but didn't realize what I was doing. So to have belief in myself, belief in the process, belief in the organization, you know, because I was just following whatever British Cycling, you know, told me to do, exactly like in hospital. I had belief in myself going through rehabilitation, belief in the organization, the NHS, belief in the process in the hospital, you know, with the nurses and the consultants. So it was just trusting, yeah, maybe it's trust, Gary. Just trust in those people around me, you know. So to go into the the Paralympics, I didn't know if I was ever going to make it to the Games, you know. I I just didn't, you know, but I was ballsy enough to have a goal.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:37

And if I got there, great. If I came back with no medal, Gary, I I would have been just as happy, even though I would have been disappointed, I would have been happy because of the experiences and the memories, because that's what we take with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:51

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:52

You know, great.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

I mentioned it earlier, but one of the things I heard and heard loud and clear is your recognition of the opportunity that was in front of you. Um, and and rather than living like you described with the the chimp mind and that's there on emotion. Well, what if I I was to make a fool of myself, or what if it doesn't work out? Actually, you just say, Well, why not? And you you give it a go. And that's the lesson that so many people can can uh can use themselves. Um I guess as a final question from me, uh conscious I've taken up way too much of your time. But uh with regards to uh you had a very clear goal yourself with the Olympics, uh eventually, um, through the opportunities and the decisions that you made. But if people haven't got an Olympics in front of them, what are the kind what are the daily habits that you've got, Mark, that really make you thrive and make you get up every day and make you go out and take each day as a challenge, like uh like maybe some people don't?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:55

Yeah, that's absolutely that's absolutely a fantastic question. It's a great question to finish because when I finished in um 2014 on the world-class cycling program, as part of the, I suppose, the induction to leave, really, you know, the exit interview, one of the sports psychologists in Cardiff actually, um his name is Mark, funny enough, but he asked me um when we were doing the you know the exit interview, he said, um, in terms of you know the future, I have to ask you one more question. I said, Yeah, of course. He said, My question is, what would you like written on your headstone? I said, sorry. He said, What would you like written on your headstone? I said, Well, to be honest with you, mate, I I hadn't really thought that far ahead, if I'm honest. He said, Well, maybe you should think about it because you've got a long life ahead of you. And if you make the wrong decisions, you're gonna pass away with regret. And that stayed with me. Like my dad's, you know, key messages when I was a kid. They stayed with me all my life, you know. And I said, Oh gosh, I have no idea. He said, Well, I'll give you a minute to think about it. I said, Okay. So I thought about it and I thought, well, what do I want to do? What do I want to do? I want to help other people, okay? I want to inspire other people, I want to teach other people, I want to coach other people to achieve whatever dream they have, whatever it is. So I said to Mark, I said, um, what I would like written on my headstone is the words, I know I made a difference. And he was like, Wow, I've never been told that before. And that was because I do not want to die with regret. Okay, I do not want to be however old I'm gonna be, hopefully 120 years of age, Gary, maybe, but I do not want to be in the latter years of my life having any regret. You know, I want to live my life to my full, you know, to the fullest of my ability, with all of the right values, you know, the right integrity, the right accountability, um, totally transparent to make sure that I can help other people. Everything I've learned, I I'm so open, which is probably why we've taken it much longer than what we maybe spoke about, but it's so important, you know, for people to be the best they can be, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:24

And and and one thing I I'll add to that, Mark, and again, it's a compliment to you, really, is is from the first conversation we had on the phone, um, one of the things um you you again shouted loud and clear to me was that you wanted to help other people. It's such a good quality. And again, I think if people could just understand um the positive fulfillment that they can get from helping others rather than what is often uh in in modern society, you know, the the desire to help themselves first. Um, and again, you offered yourself very openly to to speaking to me, and I and I'm very grateful for that, really appreciative. Um, and it and it it truly is in line with your your purpose, like you've said there, with with just wanting to make a difference and help as many people as you can. So I thank you very much for that, Mark. And I thank you very much for our time. Um, as I guess, as a as a final comment, have you got any have you got any final comments for uh listeners or viewers?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:26

Yes, I think my you know my vision, you know, my personal vision as an international speaker is to create that lasting change. You know, don't don't stay where you are, don't be stale, you know, reinvent yourself, discover skills that you know you you may never even thought that you have, you know, um, and try different things, as we said at the very beginning of this, you know, whether it's different sports, different hobbies, you know, um, learn different skills, apply the different skills, and then when you're at the point where you've achieved it, the value is then teaching other people because that's where you see the real value, you know, the true humility, um, you know, in in in human society, you know, in in humanity, I guess, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:14

Mark, it's uh it's I I completely agree 100%. And uh I think it's a great way to leave people with that that comment there. There's nothing more that I can add to that, except again, thanks so much for your time. Um, we've used it way more than we agreed, but uh, but I'm grateful. And I know that people listening will have got some uh amazing nuggets of of advice and help for them there. So again, uh I can't thank you enough for that. So, Mark Corbon, thanks very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:41

Thank you very much, Gary, and good luck, everyone. Take care.