A former trumpeter of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Balham is part of a military charity team that will take on one of the world’s toughest endurance cycling events, the epic 3,081-mile Race Across America (RAAM).
Dan Richards is one of fourteen injured veterans, plus six volunteers, who are taking on the challenge. Dan will be part of the cycling team and ride with one arm.
Fourteen members of the team all suffer life altering wounds and will push themselves to the limit both physically and mentally in the pursuit of finishing the RAAM in under nine days.
After a two-year postponement due to Covid, the first Blesma organised team will set off on 18 June and will collectively cycle 3,081 miles from the Pacific coast in the west to the Atlantic coast in the east.
Starting in Oceanside, the race will cross 12 states, climbing more than 190,000 feet across the Rockies and the Appalachians before finishing in Annapolis, Maryland. The team will even have to cross deserts where temperatures can reach 45°C.
Dan was serving in the Royal Artillery when he was involved in a horrific motorbike accident in 2009. He snapped his collar bone, severed his brachial plexus, and suffered numerous fractures to his left arm and ankles. After more than six hours of surgery his right arm and shoulder were removed.
Dan had to relearn how to write, tie his laces and get dressed with one arm, and even got back on a motorbike again wearing a prosthetic arm. Blesma have been there for Dan since day one, supporting him through employment and sporting equipment grants as well as introducing Dan to the world of adaptive sports and aiding with his health and wellbeing through Blesma’s Activity programme.
With Blesma, Dan has been to Colorado to learn to ski and cycled around New York city with fellow injured veterans from America.
“Cycling has become a means of winning back a quality of life. It has allowed me to engage with a sport as well as the social aspect. The benefits of cycling, both physically and mentally, have allowed me to move on with my life focusing on the future and not feel defined by my previous military life.”
Dan joined Blesma’s RAAM team as he wants to show and demonstrate to others that “disability isn’t a final destination.”
“Disability doesn’t define who you are or what you are capable of in spite of your limitations. There is after all more than on way to skin a cat!”
To support the team, please visit www.blesma.org/donate
