Wheelchair motocross gave boy his life back - mum

Tomas Woods became the adapted sport's world champion last year

A 15-year-old who became a world champion in wheelchair motocross was "given his life back" by the sport.

Tomas Woods, from Preston, started the adapted version of BMX in 2020, aged 11.

His mental health had been "on the floor" due to a rare disorder affecting his legs, his mother Jo Woods said.

By 2023 he was a world champion, and had beaten the competitor whose videos first inspired him.

The Preston teenager learnt to ride at Salford skatepark

Tomas got his first NHS wheelchair in 2019 due to his Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that affects his connective tissues.

He had been taken out of of school at eight due to the condition, and not being able to leave the house meant he was "literally not seeing anyone", Jo said.

"I think we’d have agreed to anything at the time to get him out, his mental health was on the floor."

Watching backflip videos of Aaron ‘Wheelz’ Fotheringham inspired Tomas, who took his wheelchair to Graystone Action Sports Academy in Salford.

Jo said he "loved it, and it made such a difference" to his mental health.

"He loved it, it made such a difference, as his mental health was so poor prior," Jo said.

Coaches at the centre, who knew little about the sport, then start watching videos online to work out how to offer him better training.

"We found a community in the skatepark that's really accepting", Jo said.

After years of hard work and a rise through the ranks, the Lancashire teenager went on to beat Fotheringham, the US competitor who had pioneered the sport in the early 2000s.

"My crazy idiot smashed it," Jo said of Tomas's victory in California in 2023.

Tomas's mother said the sport has turned his life around

Now the skatepark that acted as a spring broad to Tomas's success - Graystone Action Sports - has become a centre for the growth of the sport in the UK.

Riders from countries including Brazil, Switzerland, France and Germany are due to appear at the international competition there on Saturday.

Coaches at Graystone Action Sports centre helped Tomas train

The centre began a weekly wheelchair motocross evening in 2023, which now attracts riders from all over the UK.

It also offers borrowed wheelchairs for those who are concerned about breaking their own, which Jo said was "one of the biggest barriers to entry".

The specialised chairs can cost between £5k to £10k.

Tomas is set to be joined by other riders at the UK's first WCMX competition

Jo, who is chief executive officer of WCMX GB, said her son spearheaded the idea of making it into the sport's governing body, which it is now working towards.

Tomas's success follows that of Lily Rice, the women's wheelchair motocross champion, who wants wheelchair MX to become an Paralympic sport.