Double-amputee completes first race

Army and Navy combine with their sights set on racing at the highest level

DESPITE losing both legs while serving in Afghanistan, Lance Corporal Murray Hambro completed his first race on a specially adapted Triumph Daytona 675R.

Lance Corporal Hambro is one of four members of True Haroes Racing, setup by Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Phil Spencer, after meeting injured servicemen at charity events he organised with UK military charity, Afghan Heroes.Corporal Graeme Billington and Royal Navy Leading Hand Adam Shroff, of 771 Naval Air Squadron help Lance Corporal Hambro prepare the bike.

CPO Phil Spencer said: “This is an extraordinary achievement as Murray is a double amputee who only completed his medical rehabilitation programme at Headley Court a few months ago.”

“Having met so many amazing and inspirational people through my association with Afghan Heroes I wanted to be able to offer these guys who have suffered some appalling injuries a new focus and sense of direction once they’d reached the end of their medical rehabilitation journey.

“Motorsport is a fast, frenetic and pressurised environment, not too dissimilar to the battlefield. It is also a world many Service personnel would not have considered open to them even when they were fully able bodied.

“To compete at the highest level possible is a real challenge, but gives Service personnel something they can get their teeth into. To do it on two wheels provides specific challenges, but shows the world that these guys can achieve anything that their able bodied counterparts can do. True Heroes Racing is not all about the rider, but the team ethos as well.”

The team are aiming to compete in the 2013 Triumph Triple Challenge. Visit www.trueheroesracing.co.uk for more.