Mark Colbourne

Biography:

Mark Colbourne MBE has gone through hell and back to reach his first Paralympic Games after breaking his back in a near fatal paragliding accident in May 2009.  He was left with lower leg paralysis and foot drop in both feet.
 

Mark fought for 12 months to learn to walk again with walking aids and now prides himself as a full time professional Para-cyclist for his country.
 

In the summer of 2011 Mark Colbourne entered into his first summer of road and time trial racing for the GB Para-cycling Team. He raced in three P1 International events across Europe and came away with 3 podium placed medals and then went on to win a further 2 Silver medals in both Para-cycling World Cup races in Segovia and in Baie-Comeau.
 

Only 2 years after leaving Hospital with a broken back, in the autumn of 2011 he raced at the World Para-cycling Championships in Denmark where he took Silver in the 10 mile Individual Road Time Trial event
 

In February 2012, Colbourne won his very first cycling Gold medal for Great Britain on the track in Los Angeles claiming his first World Para-cycling Championship title. He also won a World Championship Silver medal in the blue ribbon event - the 1km individual time trial. Mark achieved these amazing results the very same week that he unfortunately lost his Dad to stomach cancer, showing his incredible mental strength of a man who can perform on the world stage, even when faced with unprecedented emotional pressures around him.   

 
In the summer of 2012, Mark won 2 Silver medals in the 10 mile Individual Road Time Trial event at both World Cup Para-cycling events in Rome and Segovia. These fantastic results and his incredible improvement coupled with his track World Championship Gold pedigree, placed him in the Paralympics GB team for the London 2012 Paralympics.
 

At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Colbourne won the first medal for Team GB with his well-deserved Silver medal on the track in the 1km Individual Time Trial.
 

The very next day Mark broke the 3km Pursuit World Record twice in one day at the Velodrome. He annihilated the current world record by 7 seconds in the morning and then went on to beat it again by 0.2 seconds in the final on the same night. In what is his preferred event on the track, Mark went on to win the 3km pursuit and obtain his first Paralympic Gold medal.
 

As a determined athlete Mark didn’t stop with his amazing haul of 2 medals at his first games, he then entered the 10 mile Individual Road Time Trial 5 days later winning a Silver medal.