The inspirational story of Talan Skeels-Piggins, Paralympic skier and the first paralysed motorbike racer in the UK

In October we were delighted to attend the Breaking More Boundaries conference, where we heard from a range of speakers who talked about how they overcame the challenges presented by their serious injuries and have since managed to travel the world.

We know most of you were not able to be there, so we wanted to share with you some of the inspirational stories that we heard on the day from people who have overcome the most difficult challenges imaginable and achieved amazing things, in spite of their serious injuries.

The conclusion of all of these stories is that motivation is vital when you suffer a serious injury. That’s why we want to share them with you - to offer the motivation and inspiration that anything is possible, no matter your injury. And that’s not just ‘easy-for-you-to-say’ rhetoric - the people we have featured in this upcoming blog series are all living proof of that.

So, without further ado, the first subject of our inspirational stories series is Talan Skeels-Piggins. We were honoured to be able to conduct an exclusive interview with Talan, who told us more about his remarkable journey. Enjoy.

Why is this story inspirational?

Because, at the age of 32, Talan was left paralysed from the mid-chest down after a motorcycle accident. He was released from hospital a year-and-a-half early, competed for Great Britain in the 2010 Winter Paralympics and then became the first ever paralysed rider to gain a motorbike racing licence.

He now runs a charity that helps other people with serious injuries experience what they thought was impossible: to ride a motorbike.

Talan’s story in his own words

On 8th March 2003, at the age of 32, Talan Skeels-Piggins suffered an injury that changed his life.

At the time he was a PE teacher and had a very clear idea of what he needed to do to get to the top of his profession.

“I was planning on going out to Africa - I had a job at the Mombasa Academy to go to so I could gain experience in a different culture - then I wanted to become a head of department and then a headteacher. That was my 10-year plan. And after my accident I thought it was all destroyed.”

He was riding his motorbike, as he always did, on his way to a rugby match when the car in front suddenly stopped. Talan had to swerve towards the centre of the road to avoid it, but his tyres lost grip, causing him to slide off the bike straight into the oncoming traffic.

“The car coming towards me went straight over the top of me, shattering T4 (fourth thoracic vertebra) and T5 (fifth thoracic vertebra), breaking C6 (sixth cervical vertebra) and C7 (seventh cervical vertebra), breaking my ribs and puncturing my lungs.”

He was left paralysed from the mid-chest down and faced with two years in hospital. Beyond that, he knew his life had changed forever, which left him with severe depression and “on the edge of the abyss”. However, around 10 days after the accident he met someone who completely changed his mentality and helped him get out of hospital after just six and a half months.

“I had a visit from a guy who had been in a wheelchair for about five years. He was in for a regular check-up but we started speaking and he told me about skiing. I couldn’t believe he was able to ski - I thought it was incredible. It gave me a goal.

“I had a dream and I had hope”

“So basically 12 days after my accident I told myself I would learn to ski, represent Great Britain and compete at the Paralympics. I had this positive idea - I had something to focus on. And it stopped me wallowing and heading into the vast hole of depression that many people will get sucked into and find it difficult to get out of. I truly, truly believe it is incredibly powerful if you can try and keep positive and if you can keep people aware of the opportunities that are out there.

I had three-and-a-half months of bed rest after that. But even then I asked the physios to give me dumbbells while I was in bed so I could start working towards my goal of becoming a skier. I think that’s what got me out of hospital so soon - I had a dream and I had hope.

Once out of hospital, he dedicated all of his attention on achieving that dream. With the help of a charity called Back Up Trust, which provides support for those affected by spinal cord injuries, he signed up to go on a skiing trip with a large group of other disabled skiers. From there, he enlisted the help of Russell Docker, a member of the British disabled ski team, to purchase a special sit-ski and then went to work with their coaches and other members to train.

One of his first challenges was to make sure his sit-ski was suitable for him - he had to add shoulder straps to the ski because his injury meant he had no core stability.

“Because I have a high-level injury, skiing on the mono-ski is very difficult without any core stability, and you spend a lot of time falling over and hurting yourself. When you’re out and you’re skiing by yourself, if you take a tumble, you can get yourself in such a pickle that you can’t get back up again. So the shoulder straps meant I wasn’t falling over all the time.”

This allowed him to join the British development squad and join an adapted skiing programme for the season in Kimberley, Canada. After that, he decided to take himself to France to continue his development.

“I didn’t have money to be able to pay for a season abroad on another training programme - I didn’t have sponsorship or any funding. But I found a resort in France called Serre Chevalier and they allowed disabled people to ski for free. I managed to find a 0-star hotel, which had a porter's room available, and they let me stay there. The Club Des Sports allowed me to go and train with the 12-13-year-old, so I didn’t actually get any coaching, but I got time and miles upon miles on the snow. I was effectively self-taught.”

Whilst based at the resort, he did everything he could to train and race with the British disabled team - driving himself in his van with all his kit to meet up with them around Europe.

Getting to the Winter Paralympics

Thanks to this dedication and training over the years since his accident, Talan was selected to represent Britain at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, Canada and was able to achieve the dream that seemed so far away in the weeks and months following his accident.

“It was incredible. It had been a very long and difficult path to get there, so I was over the moon to have made the selection and to be there at the 2010 Games.

“I gave my best performance and I finished 15th in the Giant Slalom (GS) and 26th in the Super Giant Slalom (Super-G) which, at the time, was fairly depressing but upon reflection I couldn’t have gone any faster, I gave everything I had and I am very pleased with what I achieved.

“I did want to win, but it turned out that the conditions didn’t suit me. We had really bad conditions where it rained and the temperature dropped, turning the slushy snow into ice. I ski by using my shoulders to turn, and I tilt my entire body left and right because I can’t bend at the waist. As a result I drive the skis straight down, pushing the ski off the snow, as opposed to down into it, so, on the really hard ice I find it difficult to perform.

“It was ironic that the next Super G race that I took part in, the conditions were really soft and I ended up beating the exact same opponents who finished ahead of me at Vancouver. I got the gold medal and went on to be European Champion. In one race, you give everything and you finish 26th and in the next race you finish first and you get the gold medal - unfortunately it happened one race too late for me. But still, I finished and achieved my dream. After that season I retired, and went into coaching.”

Achieving the impossible

So, seven years after suffering his accident, Talan achieved the dream that gave him hope in his life. But not one to rest on his laurels, he decided he needed a new goal. This time, instead of setting his sights on the slopes, he had the race track in his crosshairs.

I thought it was a good idea to use the success of meeting one challenge to launch me into another. That was to get back on a bike and to become a motorcycle racer - which everybody said was never going to happen.

That’s because no one with an injury like his had ever done that before. “Unlike skiing, there was no route for anybody who was paralysed to ride a motorbike. At first, it just wasn’t going to happen - the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) told me they weren’t going to let me race.

However, after much deliberation, the ACU finally allowed Talan to have a hill climb licence.

“So for one year I had to go and do hill climbs and sprints, which is effectively all they thought I was ever going to do. So I did it, and got all these reports written back about how I didn’t crash and explode into a ball of fire, and how I wasn’t a problem on the circuit. I also got some help from a guy named Dave Stuart, who runs a motorcycle club - Thundersport. He said I could come and race at his club, on his licence - he was the one that was brave enough to allow me to race. I will be forever thankful to him.”

From there, there was no turning back. And since then he has achieved a number of amazing milestones that have proved it is possible for people with a serious injury to race motorbikes.

“In June 2012 I became the first paraplegic to compete in an able-bodied race in the UK - I believe I finished 23rd out of 29. And I still race today - in my most recent race I became the first paraplegic to get on the podium, coming third in my class. Even though I started at the back of the grid, I managed to get 14th overall, and third in my class - so finished third overall. I’m now a national-level racer and an ACU racing instructor, teaching able-bodied bikers how to race.”

In blazing this trail, with the help of Dave Stuart - who he says he wouldn’t have been able to do it without - Talan’s achievements have led to an established pathway being created for disabled riders and today there are five paraplegics with racing licences, who all race with different clubs.

And all of the other four managed to do so by working with Talan’s charity: The Bike Experience.

The Bike Experience

Talan set up The Bike Experience because he wanted to share the feeling he got when riding his bike.

“The day I got back on my bike was honestly the best day of my life. And I thought there had to be more people out there who were injured or disabled who would love to get back on a bike too. So I bought another bike and decided I’d help others to realise what they thought was impossible.

“We started out with just one bike and we were only ever going to have one person at a time come along to an event. They would have to bring their own kit and their own carers, while I would provide my level of knowledge, an adapted bike and I would show them how to ride.

“Now we have anything up to 14 people at an event at a time, we have six instructors, 20 volunteers, seven adapted motorbikes and all the leathers, helmets and gloves - everything.”

There is too much to say about The Bike Experience for this blog post, so we have created a spotlight feature for those who want to find out more about Talan’s charity and the amazing ways in which he’s helping others.

So, after everything Talan has been through and accomplished in his life since the accident, what advice does he have for those in a similar situation?

Have belief in yourself that you will be able to get through it. We all have an immense amount of resilience and energy inside each and every one of us - I call it the ‘little person’ inside of us - and no matter what happens you can look inside yourself and use that and keep on moving forwards. It is there in each and every person.

“Sometimes you don’t realise it because you have maybe never had to tap into it, but I spent 16-and-a-half weeks on bed rest and had a very honest conversation with myself and found out that I had the determination I needed. You don’t need to look to anyone else, you can rely on yourself if you trust in yourself and believe in yourself.”