Claire Lomas wins Helen Rollason award for inspiration
Claire Lomas last night (Thursday 8 November) received the Helen Rollason award for inspiration at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year awards for her London Marathon achievement.
Claire, who was paralysed in a fall eventing five years ago, completed the marathon in 16 days, wearing a special robotic suit.
“It was all very exciting and a brilliant night,” Claire told H&H.
“It was amazing to get an award in front of all the Olympians and Paralympians. And it was unbelievable to get a standing ovation from such superstars.
“Plus it was nice to see Nicola [Wilson] and Tina [Cook] and I even got to touch their silver medals!”
Claire is now preparing for her next challenge — a bike ride around the UK.
Originally Claire was planning on going from London to Paris on a specially designed bike, but French laws meant she couldn’t collect money over there.
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“It’s worked out for the best really,” she added. “I will go around as many schools as possible here and give talks. But it’s further than it was — it’s now about 400miles and should take around three weeks.”
Claire sets off in mid April. To donate visit: http://www.justgiving.com/Claire-Lomas
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.