On the fast track to the top, with an independent spirit

When Hannah Cockcroft was born her parents were told she would never walk, talk or do anything for herself.

As the bright and bubbly 19-year-old lets me in to her home in Halifax and chats away about being double world champion wheelchair racer and quadruple world record holder it is impossible to understand that prognosis.

“When I was born I had two cardiac arrests and that caused damage to different parts of my brain,” explains Hannah.

“They told my parents that I would never be able to do anything my whole life and wouldn’t live past my teenage years. But I don’t like people telling me what to do.”

The brain damage caused problems to her spine, legs and feet but her parents were determined that she would have the most normal life possible.

“They would have me in standing frames. I hated them for it at the time, but now I cannot thank them enough. It means that I can walk, if rather slowly.”

Hannah’s parents were also adamant that their daughter would go to a mainstream school.

“I enjoyed school but it was frustrating,” admits Hannah. “It was a small school and they just didn’t have the facilities for someone with my disabilities.”

It meant that it wasn’t until secondary school that Hannah played sport for the first time. The school had a disabled sports team and Hannah started playing wheelchair basketball and discus.

“We went to a big UK schools’ games in 2007 and I won a silver medal at discus and got invited to the UK athletics games in London.”

It was here that Hannah got a piece of luck which was to change her life.

“I met Dr Ian Thompson, the husband of Tanni Grey-Thompson, and he let me have a go in Tanni’s racing chair. I just loved it and he agreed to coach me for a year.”

The first wheelchair race Hannah entered she won and her determination to succeed in the sport was cemented and has led to comparisons with Tanni ever since.

“I never thought at that stage I would be doing it full-time. I was 15 but I loved everything about it, especially the speed. It was a great feeling. I love winning.”

A few weeks later she got an invitation to join a UK World Athletic Training Programme which included the Olympic Team GB who had just come back from a successful Games in Beijing.

“I didn’t know anybody and they definitely didn’t know me or what sport I did. I was really scared.” But then one girl, javelin thrower Holly Arnold, befriended her and the pair have remained firm friends ever since.

Realising that Hannah was flourishing in her new sport, her family decided to raise funds to buy her a racing chair of her own, at a cost of more than £3,000.

In 2008 they took part in the Jane Tomlinson Leeds 10k and raised enough money to buy Hannah her chair, which she named after Oscar Pistorious.

“All my chairs are named after great athletes. The first one was Oscar, then Ian (Jones) and Sally (Brown). I haven’t decided on the name for the new one which I’ll use in the Olympics.”

Hannah is a familiar sight in “Sally” as she trains on the hilly roads around Mount Tabor, Halifax where she lives with her parents and little brother. Her elder brother Josh, 22, lives in Sunderland. When the weather is too bad for her to train outdoors she goes down to the basement where her father, a welder, has made a training “roller treadmill” for her wheelchair. She practises nine times a week for at least two hours at a time including three sessions in the gym building up her upper body strength.

And the hard work has definitely paid off. Hannah now holds world records in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metre races and in this year’s World Championships in New Zealand she won gold in both the 100 and 200 metres. Although Team GB for London 2012 won’t be officially announced until July, most agree Hannah is a shoo-in.

But that hasn’t left this remarkable young woman complacent.

Her training and competing schedule for the next few months looks daunting. In the New Year she is attending training camps in Australia and then her season starts with competitions in Portugal.

She is now coached by Swede Peter Erikkson who is also the head of performance for Paralympic athletes at UK Athletics.

Talking to this confident and talented young athlete you have to remind yourself that she only left school a year ago, where she got four A-levels, followed by a Btec in sport before becoming one of the new breed of full-time athletes.

It is not just the sporting success than impresses you about Hannah, it is her level-headedness in the face of this success.

She is a great exponent for disability rights and tells me stories of times when she has come across ignorance and discrimination.

“It feels as though you are invisible sometimes.

“People just walk into me when I am in my chair and never say ‘sorry’. My mum says maybe they didn’t see me, but my chair is bright pink, I am not sure how they could have missed me.

“Some shops are brilliant and very helpful but in others it is just impossible to get down the aisles in a wheelchair.”

Hannah is also very clear about her opinions about the recent debate sparked by a Scope poll which found that almost two-thirds of disabled people want the Paralympics scrapped and merged with the Olympics.

More than half of all Britons polled, including those without disabilities, said combining the Olympics and Paralympics would help disabled athletes to be taken more seriously and improve society’s views about disabled people.

And although many Paralympic athletes have come out against the suggestions, Hannah believes it would be a good idea.

“The Paralympics has worked it way up over the years but it has always been in the shadow of the Olympics. If we don’t merge we will never be seen on the same footing as the elite able-bodied athletes,” she says.

“Take the London Olympics. By the time the Paralympics are on everyone is back at work.” Not everyone. Hannah is looking forward to her family being able to watch her compete at the top level.

“They couldn’t come and watch me in New Zealand but they are all planning to come to London and it will be amazing to have their support.

“I owe them so much, they have always been there for me no matter what.”

While 2011 saw Hannah crowned double world champion and then last month receive the Aviva Athletics Award for Paralympic Performance for the second time, next year is the big one.

As well as a small matter of the Olympics 2012 will see Hannah supporting the Jane Tomlinson events as a patron rather than a participant as she has in other years.

“I feel really honoured to have been invited to be a patron. I never met Jane but I really wish I had. She was an amazing and inspirational woman.”

It takes one to know one.

The iron lady – run with a champion

Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington is coming to Leeds to host the UK’s first Run with Chrissie. Taking place on Wednesday, December 21, as patron of the Jane Tomlinson Appeal and previous Sunday Times Sportswoman of the year, Chrissie will take part in a 5K training run before sharing her tips and advice, with all proceeds from the event going directly to the Jane Tomlinson Appeal. This unique event takes place at Leeds Metropolitan University. To find out more and to book a place visit www.runwithchrissie.com. To find out more on the other running, walking and swimming events in aid of the Jane Tomlinson Appeal in 2012 visit www.forallevents.co.uk