HANDCYCLING at high speed along Morecambe promenade, Stuart Robinson has to make sure he does not wipe out the town’s most famous resident.
As part of his fitness training for the Paris Paralympics – which will open on Wednesday– the wheelchair rugby ace got out and about in his racing chair to build up endurance and stamina.
Yet it would not have gone down well if he had taken down heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury while travelling at full pelt in the Lancashire seaside resort.
Robinson, 42, laughed: “We give him quite a wide berth when we’re on the handcycles!
“Tyson likes to go for a run up-and-down the prom. I try to stay ahead of him, otherwise I’d know that I’m cycling pretty slow.
“You see him pretty much around Morecambe. He sometimes trains at the same gym as me.
“In the build-up to the (Oleksandr) Usyk fight, he was in the gym every couple of days, training with his big entourage.
“When he’s out running, you get the nod, the ‘morning’ kind of stuff. But he’s in the zone.
“Whereas I’m trying to stop sweating and regulating my breathing on the bikes.
“It’s nice to have a chat with him, ask him how his day is going.
“It’s nice to have someone else who is working towards that big goal of being at the top of the game in their sport. Seeing the dedication that he puts in.
“I’ve always had drive and determination to try and win. But to see other people who are world-class in their sport doing the same, it gives you a little bit of an urge to carry on.”
Former heavyweight world boxing champion Fury, 36, might be well-known in the area but Robinson’s sporting achievements should also be praised.
Three years ago in Tokyo, he was a key part of the squad that won wheelchair rugby gold – their thrilling 54-49 victory over the USA was watched by more than one million people on Channel 4.
They won the title in spite of not receiving National Lottery funding for those Ghost Games in the Covid-hit Japanese capital.
The 12-man squad has benefited from such financial support this time, enabling them to use world-class facilities and to go away as a group on training camps.
That assistance has allowed them to train at St George’s Park in Staffordshire while the England men’s team were away at the Euros in Germany.
Robinson, one of seven returning champions, was introduced to the sport not long after surviving a near-fatal incident while serving in the military 11 years ago.
The father-of-two had both his legs amputated after he was involved in an explosion while on vehicle patrol as a RAF Regiment Gunner on a fourth tour of Afghanistan.
In total, he sustained 36 separate injuries, including rib, sternum, collarbone and spinal fractures and spent two months in hospital, which included six weeks in an induced coma.
It is no wonder he was so emotional when he came away from the last Paras with the gold medal round his neck in the sport formerly known as Murderball.
On Thursday, the Brits begin their title defence against Australia at 10.30am BST at the Champ-de-Mars Arena, which is situated by the Eiffel Tower.
Robinson said: “There isn’t any one team that we really fear.
“You need to be on your A-Game whoever you play against. Hopefully we can come out of it with another gold medal.
“Going into Tokyo we had that hunger and desire to go out and win, to prove people wrong.
“From a personal perspective, I still have that drive. I don’t want to be known as that flash-in-the-pan that did it once and it was just a lucky tournament.
“It’s about proving we can still compete against the best teams in the world.”
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