Skier Jane shrugs off training crash (From Wharfedale Observer)

Skier Jane shrugs off training crash

6:45pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010

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PARALYMPIC skier Jane Sowerby has vowed to soak up every second of the Winter Games this month after a training run crash almost put pay to her Vancouver adventure.

The Otley-born 34-year-old’s Winter Paralympic dream flashed before her eyes in November after fracturing her collarbone on Austria’s Hintertux Glacier.

Sowerby, who was paralysed from the waist down following a freak fall in 2003, claimed six podium finishes in her first competitive season and was ranked third in last season’s European Cup.

And after battling back to fitness in time to jet out to Canada, the former MTV Music Programming Manager has refused to rule out returning with a medal from her Paralympic debut.

“I’ve only broken bones twice in my life, once when I broke my back in 2003 and the second time when I broke my collarbone,” said Sowerby, who has been backed by the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative since 2007.

“The first was obviously devastating and the second was awful because I feared my hopes of going to the Paralympics were over.

“I’ve missed all the racing for this year which is a blow but I had trained before the crash and I’ve been training since so I’m not too far behind the curve.

“I’ve won medals and finished on the podium quite a few times but that is a level below the World Cup circuit so it is going to be a big ask.

“But anything can happen at such a high-pressure event so I have let myself dream a little of winning a medal.”

Sowerby’s Paralympic potential was spotted as early as 2007, when she was invited to join the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative, scooping a £1000 cash injection in the process.

And with the backing of Lloyds behind her, Sowerby insists Vancouver 2010 will serve as the perfect springboard for the Sochi Games in four years time.

“I remember starting out and I didn’t have any funding at all apart from the Lloyds money,” added Sowerby.

“It was a huge decision to leave the job I loved at MTV and make that step. But now I’m on the verge of competing in the Paralympics so it was the best decision I ever made.

“By the time 2014 comes round I want to be a serious medal contender, I can’t rule anything out in Vancouver but by then I want to be consistently among the best.”

Lloyds TSB is providing up to £1,000 to over 270 emerging young sportspeople identified each year across Britain, in the run up to London 2012 and beyond. Visit Lloydstsb.com/Localheroes

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