Bronze for Morris in Women's hand-cycling road race

London 2012 Paralympics logo

Great Britain's Rachel Morris won bronze in today's Women's H1-3 road race at Brands Hatch less than two months after she was hit by a car while competing in a time trial.

Morris' participation in the Games was thrown in doubt on July 5 when she suffered whiplash and shoulder injuries when a car hit her during a race in Alton, Hampshire.

She and team-mate Karen Darke crossed the line arm in arm at the end of the 48km race, and the pair - who have trained together for the past three years - requested that the result was tied.

However, the medal was presented to Morris after the photo finish showed the 33-year-old narrowly finished ahead of Darke. 

This latest podium finish means that Great Britain now has 21 Para-cycling medals from these Games, surpassing the total of 20 amasssed four years ago in Beijing.

Speaking this afternoon, Morris said: "We have worked so hard together today. I can't believe we did it. It is brilliant. I've not had the best lead-up to these Game, but this means everything."

Darke had previously won silver in the women's H1-2 Time Trial on Wednesday, beating defending Paralympic champion Morris, who had to settle for sixth.

Storey and Kappes' lucky escape

Tandem racing has been one of the highlights of the London Paralympics, but as Barney Storey and Anthony Kappes found out in the build-up to the Beijing Games four years ago, life as a duo is not always plain-sailing.

Shortly before the last Paralympics, Storey and Kappes had a nasty crash while training at the Manchester Velodrome when their front disc wheel disintegrated at speed.

A YouTube clip (see below) showing their miraculous bike-handling skills has gone viral over the past week, although Storey's recollection of the crash is still fresh enough without watching the video back.

"I can remember when it happened. A couple of parents were stood on the bend, and I remember catching the Dad's face, which wasn't good! And when we got into the straight and I saw Chris Furber [GB lead coach] and his was the same," he said.

"At that point the wheel started getting smaller and smaller. Our pedals clipped the track and we came off. Someone was looking after us that day - I think the video analysis guys worked out we were doing 72km/h, obviously when we hit the deck a bit slower."

Kappes fractured his shoulder in the fall, yet weeks later took gold in both the 1km Time Trial and Sprint disciplines. He followed that up with a win in the latter in London on Sunday - albeit with Craig MacLean - while Storey enjoyed success in the kilo with Neil Fachie.



Londoner McKeown reflects on first Paralympics

Shaun McKeown declared himself pleased as he comes away from London with a silver medal from three events in which he competed.

32-year-old McKeown is a relative newcomer to the British squad, having only joined the set-up three years ago.

Hailing

from the south-east of the capital, he delighted the partisan crowd

inside the Velodrome with a strong ride to finish second in the C3 Individual Pursuit last

week - something he puts down to his attitude going into the Games.

"If

you start thinking about gold medals you're taking the wrong approach,"

he said. "You've just got to give it 100%, and I feel I've done the

best I could. For example, the pursuit I nailed as best as I could."

Replicating

his track performance in the time trial and road race proved a

challenge - he finished sixth and 21st respectively - and that's one of

the first things he plans to work on when he starts training again later on in the year.

"You've got to progress.

It's really hard to transfer that [track form] on to the road, but

that's something I can develop. I haven't really been put in that

situation before. It's so different to anything. I've learnt so much

from it."

Results

London 2012 Paralympic Games: road races, day four, Brands Hatch

Women's H1-3 Road Race

1. Marianna Davis (USA) 48km in 1-41.32

2. Monica Bascio (USA) at 33 sec

3. Rachel Morris (GBr) at 1-34

Brits

4. Karen Darke (GBr) at st.

Men's H1 Road Race

1. Mark Rohan (Irl) 48km in 1-53.09

2. Tobias Fankhauser (Sui) at 0-02

3. Wolfgang Schattauer (Aut) at 0-15

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Reports

Road day two: Storey becomes most decorated Paralympian

Road day one: Another gold for Storey in time trial

Track day four: Tandem sprint gold for Kappes and MacLean

Track day three: Sarah and Barney Storey lead the headlines in the velodrome

Track day two: Colbourne takes gold, Cundy is disqualified in day of mixed fortunes for GB

Track day one: Storey takes gold

Photos

Road day two by Andy Jones

Road day one by Andy Jones

Track day three (afternoon) by Andy Jones

Track day three (morning) by Andy Jones

Track day two (afternoon) by Andy Jones

Track day two (morning) by Andy Jones

Track day one (afternoon) by Andy Jones

Track day one (morning) by Andy Jones

Schedule of events

London 2012 Paralympics cycling event schedule

Related links 

London 2012 Olympic Games coverage index

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Nick Bull is an NCTJ qualified journalist who has written for a range of titles, as well as being a freelance writer at Beat Media Group, which provides reports for the PA Media wire which is circulated to the likes of the BBC and Eurosport. His work at Cycling Weekly predominantly dealt with professional cycling, and he now holds a role as PR & Digital Manager at SweetSpot Group, which organises the Tour of Britain.