I am a 60 year old Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust and a keen fell walker, skier and road cyclist.

Two and a half years ago I sprained my left ankle and expected it to settle over 6 to 12 weeks. Unfortunately although I was able to cycle after a few weeks I was unable to return to fellwalking due to pain. I eventually had an x-ray which revealed advanced osteoarthritis secondary to an old rugby injury (ankle sprain). As the pain got worse I eventually had to consider surgery and had to decide between total ankle replacement and ankle fusion. I obviously wanted to make an informed decision about this but found little decisive evidence how to proceed and really made a decision based on gut instinct. I had  a total ankle replacement on 14th July 2020 under Mr Mark Farndon and within 8 weeks was back to cycling. It was the New Year before I really returned to walking and unfortunately due to COVID 19 was unable to ski in 2021 but will hopefully ski this year. 

I feel further research is needed in many areas of Orthopaedics and hope to raise funds through this ride to assist with this

Did you know there are over 20 million people in the UK living with a musculoskeletal condition? That's about a third of the population. And its not limited to the elderly. Children and young people suffer too, with 11 per cent of those affected being under 35. Sadly, the odds are that we or someone close to us will suffer from a musculoskeletal disorder, be involved in a major limb trauma, or have joint replacement surgery at some point in our lives.Would you consider supporting our riders to help fund life changing trauma and orthopaedic research into 2022 and beyond?