Ryan Henderson: From suffering a broken vertebrae to becoming a BMX history-maker
- Published
Ryan Henderson in action during the BMX freestyle event in Munich
When Ryan Henderson faced several months of rehabilitation after suffering a fracture of his C3 vertebra in a motorcross accident at the age of 16, going on to make history on a BMX bike would have seemed a very unlikely prospect.
Ten years on from that serious incident, the Belfast man last week became the first competitor from Ireland to reach the final of the BMX freestyle event at the European Championships in Munich.
After scoring 64.80 in his first run, he increased his score to 68.00 in the second to finish in 10th position.
"To be the first Irishman to do this was incredible, a dream really, because when I started BMX it wasn't possible to do this. It is an honour really," Henderson told BBC Radio Ulster's Sportsound Extra Time programme.
"In the final you get two runs, but only one run that counts, so you can have a safety run and then one where you can take a risk.
"In my first run at the finals I slipped the pedal so that penalised me but on the second one I managed to pull it together and get 10th.
"With it being an Olympic sport now, it's so technical, every bit of detail has to be perfect."
Henderson's first sporting interest was motocross, a two-wheel discipline which he took up at the age of 10.
"I was racing every weekend but when I was 16 I went to a track in Downpatrick and was on my first lap of the day when the accident happened," he explained.
"The way they levelled the track there was a bump on the take-off of the ramp and when I clipped that it sent me airborne.
"I clipped my back wheel off the actual jump so I came straight down on my head, breaking the C3 vertebrae in my neck. At 16 years old that was pretty scary.
"I went home and didn't realise the damage I had done but a couple of hours later I couldn't even hold my head up.
"I was rushed to hospital and they put me through x-rays, all different tests, and found I had broken my C3 vertebrae.
"It was a scary period, you don't know what's going to happen, you've got your whole life ahead of you. I wasn't sure if I would need surgery but thankfully I didn't.
"It was seven or eight months before I got out of my neck brace, then slowly and surely you learn how to use your neck again.
"Being young was a blessing as I healed quite quickly but I had to undergo a lot of physio, training the body and the mind again."
After becoming the first Irish BMX freestyler to compete at a major championship, Henderson is now aiming to fulfil his ultimate ambition of taking part in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
"I want to build momentum from what I've done in the past week and try to carry that through the whole of this year and next year to try and qualify.
"The top nine countries with the most points get to compete in the Olympics so it is about building as many points as possible at different events and qualifying in that top nine," he added.