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Karen Darke - 2012 Paralympian

12:00 SUNDAY 12TH OCTOBER 2014

2012 PARALYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST

Ground-breaking adventurer Karen Darke is an athlete with the British Cycling team.  Karen says, "Luckily I've got an adventurous gene, as life in a wheelchair is full of unexpected adventure. I was a keen runner, climber and all round outdoor addict, and then at the age of 21, I fell off a cliff and became paralysed from the chest down. There begins the opening chapter of my book ‘If You Fall…’ and the beginning of an extraordinary new life."

She has gone on to win silver in handcycling at the 2012 Paralympics, become 2012 World Paratriathlon Champion, and is now training for Rio 2016.

Karen's adventurous spirit has, amongst other journeys, taken her cycling across the Himalaya and the length of Japan, kayaking to Alaska, sit-skiing across Greenland, climbing El Capitan, and in 2014 to an Ironman (TM) challenge and cycling through Tibet.

"Her story is not just one of the triumph of the human spirit, but of the ‘spiritual’. It’s ‘spirit’ that makes us what we are, ‘spirit’ that calls out to us in wilderness places." Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Follow Karen on Twitter @kdarke
 

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Like this? Book now for:

• Cyclists' Question Time including expert advice from British / Cycling Team Sky physiotherapists and nutritionist.
• Beeline Britain - Paralympic sculler Nick Beighton and Ian O'Grady on the first ever straight-line journey from Land's End to John O'Groats.