{"id":438952,"date":"2026-02-22T03:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438952\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T03:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:01:10","slug":"that-was-my-first-ever-bunch-race-car-crash-survivor-begins-new-dream-at-british-track-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438952\/","title":{"rendered":"‘That was my first ever bunch race’ \u2013 Car crash survivor begins new dream at British Track Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Cookson likes to think of this week\u2019s British Track Championships<\/a> as the FA Cup. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the best athletes in the world in their discipline, you\u2019ve got world record holders, world champions and European champions\u2026 and then you\u2019ve got me,\u201d he smiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like that non-league team that gets a good, little run and gets to show off what they can do \u2013 Havant and Waterlooville, a good few years ago, that\u2019s the one that always sticks in my memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cookson, a 30-year-old management accountant based in London, only began cycling three months ago. He bought the track bike he\u2019s riding at the championships in Manchester six weeks ago from Facebook Marketplace, and he\u2019s so new to riding the rollers, he has to hold onto a rail while he warms up and down.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I set out, I said I wanted to ride in the Nationals,\u201d he says. \u201cA few people laughed at me, and I said, \u2018No, I\u2019ll ride in the Nationals.\u2019\u201d It\u2019s the same resolve he showed seven years prior, when, after a life-changing car crash, he had to teach himself to use a knife and fork again.<\/p>\n

Cookson was 23 when the accident happened. He had travelled to Australia a month earlier, and was ready to start a new chapter of his life as a club cricketer. Then, one day in late October, he hit a bus head-on while driving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI broke both my ankles, tibia, fibia, patella, my femur snapped\u2026 I punctured both my lungs as well, and split my liver,\u201d he says. \u201cSorry to be graphic, but my arm was hanging off, my knee and my bone was smashed out of my leg, and my head was nearly taken off \u2013 I\u2019ve got a laceration that went from ear to ear,\u201d he continues, lifting up his fringe to show the scar. \u201cI had like a flap on the top of my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cookson doesn\u2019t remember the air ambulance taking him to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. His only memory of the accident ends five minutes before it happened. The next thing he recalls is waking up from an induced coma six days later, with his parents at the end of the hospital bed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s when I realised it was quite bad,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause I was in Australia, it was at least 24 hours for them to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Billy\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Billy Cookson)<\/p>\n

At the time, the doctors said Cookson had lost so much blood that he \u201cdidn\u2019t have any of his own left in him\u201d. He underwent 28 surgeries, and spent six months in a rehabilitation hospital, regaining his strength and learning how to walk again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was two years before I could pick something up with my hand and let go of it,\u201d he says. \u201cI was great to go for a beer with, because I couldn\u2019t get it to my mouth, and I couldn\u2019t let go \u2013 if someone needed me to hold their beer, it wasn\u2019t going in my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cookson chose to stay in Australia after the car crash, and only returned to the UK last March. \u201cThis winter, I was twiddling my thumbs \u2013 not very well, obviously,\u201d he winks, \u201c\u2013 and I thought, \u2018What shall I do?\u2019 I could go and sit in the pub and watch football most weekends, or I could actually go and do something. That\u2019s when I thought of track cycling<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hobby cyclist when he was younger, Cookson used to take his dad\u2019s old mountain bike for weekend rides, and remembered a few track sessions he did as a 15-year-old. He knew track cycling was a Paralympic sport, but how could he get into it? \u201cI did my accreditation at Lee Valley over four consecutive weeks,\u201d he says, \u201cand I went up to Loughborough to do a Talent ID<\/a> day [with British Cycling<\/a>].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Billy\n<\/p>\n

Cookson rode the kilo time trial on Saturday night. <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Olly Hassell\/SWPix)<\/p>\n

Due to his injuries \u2013 Cookson\u2019s right arm has been rebuilt and is now shorter than his left \u2013 he received a C5 classification, meaning he competes in the racing category for those with the least severe impairments.<\/p>\n

Before he’d even received his Talent ID results, he told the coaches he wanted to race at the upcoming Nationals. \u201cThey said, \u2018We\u2019ll see. If you go every week, then maybe. But it\u2019s quite a high bar.\u2019\u201d In their reticence, though, he saw an exciting challenge. “I asked for a kit list of the things I’d need,” he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were shocked that that was my first-ever bunch race [on Thursday], because of how I positioned myself and stuff,\u201d he says of the scratch race, in which he finished 12th. On Friday, Cookson was disqualified from the elimination race for riding on the blue band \u2013 \u201cI wasn\u2019t familiar with [that rule],\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s all learning. I\u2019ll take that on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then went on to place 8th in the kilometre time trial on Saturday evening, clocking 1:17.248 \u2013 a speed of almost 47kph.<\/p>\n

With so much experience gained in just three months, Cookson is now thinking to longer-term goals. It’s just over two years until the Paralympics<\/a> in LA \u2013 is he aiming for that? \u201cI think I have to,\u201d Cookson says, \u201cbecause that\u2019s what drives me on the days I don\u2019t want to do things. I think I have to have that as a goal, but it\u2019s not the be-all and end-all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I get to a point where I can only compete at Nationals and be slightly competitive at that, being here this weekend, I\u2019m pretty comfortable with that. That would be a pretty cool thing,\u201d he adds. Still, here\u2019s hoping the magic of the FA Cup continues.<\/p>\n

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