When Ben Hetherington was left in an induced coma with life-threatening injuries after a serious road traffic accident while competing in a time trial in 2019, there were fears he may never walk again.

But barely three years later the 27-year-old rode to an astonishing victory as the first ever Paracycling National Champion at Thruxton Motor Circuit on October 9.

For Ben, the journey from rehabilitation to time trial triumph has been fuelled by a natural desire to prove people wrong.

He said: “From the moment I crashed, I always wanted to get back to competing and winning races.

“All my life, if my parents have said I can’t do it, I’ve been like ‘watch me, I’ll do it’. I’ve proved everyone wrong all the time and I’ll keep doing that. It’s good to be back.”

Before his accident Hetherington was forging a promising career at Memil Pro Cycling, with notable success in winning a stage at the 2019 Tour of Morocco.

Once he was back on his bike, conversations with friends made Hetherington realise he could now be eligible to compete in the Paracycling categories, and he immediately began pursuing this new course.

“I knew of other paracyclists like Crystal Lane who is friends with my friends Emily Meakin and Joss Lowden, so she was the one who told my parents to get me onto the para scene as quickly as they could so I could get known as a paracyclist.

“I got introduced to it from then, I couldn’t tell you how easy it has been and how welcoming everyone has been.”

Hetherington only returned to competitive cycling at the start of 2022, but rapidly achieved success with silver in the C3 category of the 3k pursuit at the British Cycling National Championships.

He said: “That was my first ever track race so I just attempted it to put it out there and I wasn’t far off beating the winner. I was close to beating the winner, I was only 21 seconds off him. Holding the black line is easy in training but when I was all out I was mostly on the red line, it’s a different kettle of fish to training. All the precision goes out of the window.

“The first time I got on a track bike I was like, oh man where’s the brakes. I first got on a track bike about 2-3 months before the nationals. It was a completely new type of riding so that was a challenge.”

However, success at Thruxton in October meant the most for the 27-year-old from Cumbria.

“It is so important to have this championship for paracyclists,” he said. “I couldn’t believe that I won and it means so much to me.

“I would like them to put more para events on throughout the year, if local clubs put on para races it would do wonders for the sport.

“Even if there aren’t many entrants at first, just tell us straight up we can race it but there will be no prizes. Make it so we can still be competitive and the sport will grow.”

Personally, Hetherington’s ambitions now shift towards the ultimate goal of making the Paralympics.

“I’m on the para development ID programme so hopefully I’ll make it onto the foundation programme then the podium squad eventually so I can achieve this dream.

“It’s the start of a new chapter of my life now.”

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission. This feature by James Ayles.