Vital win for Smith

Dubai: The 2011 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon may have missed its biggest name of the last three years in Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie, but it still boasted its fair share of heroes. And 35-year-old Rob Smith certainly ranks as one of them.

The UK citizen earned a huge round of applause as he crossed the finish line to win the pushchair category in his very first appearance at the Dubai Marathon.

It was a timely and handsome prize for Smith, a victim of a spinal-chord injury sustained in tragic fashion 14 years ago and currently on a quest to raise funds in order to boost his chances of making it to Great Britain's squad for next year's Paralympic Games in London.

Great return

The purse he picked up in Dubai exceeded £700-the total amount he earned through all the races he competed in last year. "It's a good prize which is why it was good reason to come here," Smith, who has won the T52 category for the Berlin and London Marathon for the last two years, told XPRESS later. "It will cover the cost of my flights, food and I'll still have a little bit extra. I'm looking for sponsors at the moment because I do need a new wheelchair. I need to upgrade this one as it's getting a bit old and creaky. There's new technology and material around which does make a big difference."

He added: "I'm looking at getting into the Great Britain squad for the Paralympics. I'm doing ok but there's still more to come."

Smith said he was a ‘bit disappointed' at narrowly failing to break his personal best timing of 2hrs and 18mins. But it was still an inspiring performance from a man largely dependent on the strength of his upper body. "I injured my neck falling down a cliff 14 years ago. It affects my lower body.

"I can use my legs a little bit but they're quite weak. Being a neck injury, it also affects my arms. So it's hard work."

So how did he come to take up such a physically challenging sport? "I was in hospital for nearly a year. Then I went back to university and finished my degree. I then started playing wheelchair rugby. I played that for 10 years and still play it on and off now. Then I started to take up racing about five years ago," he said.

His strength and courage in the face of adversity would deservingly make him a ‘role model', but he said: "I don't know if I'm famous enough to be a role model yet, but it would be nice if I was.

"Hopefully by just training hard and doing a good job, I can motivate some other people to see that they can do other stuff once they've had an injury like this."