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TAREK RASOULI / TARA LLANES / JOHNNY WADDELL / SAUL RAISIN / PAUL CRAKE STEVE PEAT / OENONE WOOD / CADEL EVANS / IRINA KALENTIEVA |
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Paul Crake, the fastest man to ever run up New York’s Empire State Building, was nearly killed when a gust of wind blew him off his bike in November 2006 while racing in the New Zealand Tour of Southland road tour. Waking in hospital with fractured vertebrae in his back and neck, two punctured lungs, a broken nose and a crushed bottom lip, Paul was in terrible shape. “I was never fully aware of how close I was to death because by the time I was conscious, I wasn’t so serious.” The surgeon who operated on his spine said he’d never walk again. “I woke up and my main goal was to get back on my feet. A year later, that’s still my goal.”Paul Crake won the Empire State Building climb five times in a row before shifting his focus to cycling. It didn’t take him long to get competitive in this sport either, finishing 3rd in the Australian Road Champ’s in 2005 and signing with a European pro cycling team for 2006. He was on his way back to a summer holiday in Australia when he stopped by New Zealand to race the Tour of Southland.
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“It’s cruel what life can throw at you sometimes, I mean it’s all very hard to deal with, very, very hard.” “Statistically there is a chance for me, and a chance is all I need. I can walk again, I will walk again.” Paul has moved thousands of people with his tragedy and more still with his determination and character following the accident, “I go up and down, there are tears some days – it’s all part of it.” “I’ve trained hard and raced harder but this is the biggest challenge of my life, nothing else comes close.” |
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