WARRIORS! Peterborough Veterans bring back medals from special international sporting event

Two Peterborough forces veterans have brought back fistfuls of medals from a special international sporting event.
The Wheelchair Basketball basketball tournament got underway June 3, 2018 at the 2018 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The DoD Warrior Games are an annual event,  established in 2010, to introduce wounded, ill and injured service members to adaptive sports as a way to enhance their recovery and rehabilitation. (DoD Photo By: Mark Reis)The Wheelchair Basketball basketball tournament got underway June 3, 2018 at the 2018 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The DoD Warrior Games are an annual event,  established in 2010, to introduce wounded, ill and injured service members to adaptive sports as a way to enhance their recovery and rehabilitation. (DoD Photo By: Mark Reis)
The Wheelchair Basketball basketball tournament got underway June 3, 2018 at the 2018 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The DoD Warrior Games are an annual event, established in 2010, to introduce wounded, ill and injured service members to adaptive sports as a way to enhance their recovery and rehabilitation. (DoD Photo By: Mark Reis)

Lucy Holt and Alison Waddie took part in the Warrior Games in Colorado in the USA, competing against American, Australian and Canadian injured veterans.

Lucy (25) from RAF Wittering brought home two golds and two silver medals from athletics and swimming events - she also competed in sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.

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Alison won two silvers and two bronzes in the pool, while also competing in the volleyball.

Lucy Holt: Photo by Gabriel ChristusLucy Holt: Photo by Gabriel Christus
Lucy Holt: Photo by Gabriel Christus

All the British entrants at the event - which took place between June 1 and June 9 - were selected by charity Help for Heroes.

Lucy took part after suffering a serious ankle injury in a netball match. She was on the verge of being called up to the England squad at the time, and said being selected had given her a new confidence.

She said: “I am overjoyed at being selected, it has given me a new determination and drive. I now have a purpose within my sporting career and don’t feel that all the hard work has been wasted.

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“My dream prior to my injury was to represent my country within the England Netball team. I thought my dream was over after my injury until I heard of the Invictus Games and Warrior Games; it has given me new hopes and dreams albeit achieving it in a slightly different way and within different disciplines.

“My ankle will now give way unexpectedly; this ankle injury is exacerbated due to the fact I have severe hyper-mobility.

“I also have a bulging disk in my lower back that compresses a nerve which causes numbness in my left leg thus causing my ankle to give way.

“I have become more cautious and anxious about the smallest of tasks.

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“Walking down the stairs with a basket of washing is now a major hazard and major cause of anxiety (due to my ankle giving way causing me to topple down the stairs previously), or picking up my son can cause my back to go.

Alison WaddieAlison Waddie
Alison Waddie

“I am unable to sustain any kind of endurance on a treadmill, as my ankle is just too unreliable, to be able to hold me up.

“Even doing the ironing or being stood for too long can cause my ankle to become numb.”