Published on Tuesday 8 November 2011 11:39
IT’S fair to say Melton sportswoman Bex Rimmington hasn’t enjoyed the best of luck over the last 12 months, writes Chris Harby.
This time last year she was nailed on to join the London 2012 party and go for Paralympic gold as the tandem pilot for partially-sighted cyclist Lora Turnham.
But despite a world number one ranking, Bex was forced to quit the Paracyling Academy in Manchester. Just one result at the sport’s world championships, a sixth place finish, was enough to cut her performance-based funding in half, leaving her without enough cash to pay the rent.
Redemption was swift when British cycling team Rapha Condor offered Bex her first full professional contract. But just weeks before taking up her dream position, a freak accident on a routine training ride broke her wrist and shattered another ambition.
Yet the latest mishap to befall our fiercely driven Melton superwoman almost beggars belief.
With the sporting gods providing enough hints that life on two wheels was not for her, the 28-year-old was persuaded to give rowing a go. British high performance team coaches were convinced her physique made Bex an ideal person to have in a boat.
Basing herself at the national water sports centre at Holme Pierrepont, in Nottingham, she set out to learn a whole new sport and become the new Rebecca Romero. In reverse.
Taking to the latest venture like a duck to, ahem, water, the former swimmer and triathlete was invited to try out at the British squad trials in Boston last weekend.
Even the most heightened sense of foreboding wouldn’t have persuaded Bex to worry when she picked up a splinter……
Wrong. A bad infection put her in hospital and subsequently out of action for three weeks, leaving her without time to regain full fitness to perform at the trials.
This may sound like a tale of woe, but it isn’t. Bex’s story is inspirational. If there’s any semblance of fair play and justice in this world, willpower and hard work will take her exactly where she wants to go in sport.
Her quest for sporting glory goes on in December when there’s another British squad assessment. And in the meantime there’s training with some of the top British women to look forward to and, of course, the thrill of competition.
I can’t tell you Bex will one day appear in the Olympics, and she can’t guarantee that. But it wouldn’t suprise me one bit if she did.
Bottle her dedication, positivity, hard work and sheer guts and there you have the Olympic spirit.
To appear in this global showpiece, at any level, would mean the world to her. And for that very reason you can be sure Bex won’t allow fate and fortune to dictate her future.