A teenager who was paralysed after a 50ft motocross jump went wrong now competes in car races with a team of competitive disabled drivers using hand-controlled pedals.
Noah Cosby was just 16 when he attempted the jump at his homemade motocross freestyling track.
Used to completing 75ft jumps, Noah decided to try a smaller jump to “be safe” after Covid restrictions meant he was out of practice.
Missing the landing point, Noah hit the ground and lost feeling in his legs and was rushed to hospital where he was told he had broken his back and stretched his spinal cord.
Now paralysed from the waist down, the 18-year-old has turned his hand to car racing and competes with Team BRIT, a competitive team of disabled drivers.
Currently on a gap year, Noah, who lives in Towcester, Northamptonshire, told PA Real Life: “Finding out I might never walk again was devastating and I was in denial for a long time.
“Everything I loved to do, racing and skateboarding, required the use of my legs so I just felt like I’d lost everything that I loved.
“Racing again now in cars gives me the same feeling that I had when I used to do motocross freestyling. It’s the best thing in the world.”
Noah’s love of motocross dates back to when he was four years old.
He said: “My dad has always ridden motocross bikes and he put me on one when I was four, basically I’ve been riding since then.
“I’ve always loved it but it was only around the time I started setting up my own jumps at my grandparents’ farm and have a few track days that it started to get serious for me.”
Building jumps with his friends at the farm, Noah said it started getting “bigger and bigger”.
Creating a freestyle track at the farm, at 15 years old, Noah began to attempt jumps.
He said: “I got really into it, and I was jumping 75ft at a time. I started to think about doing it competitively and everything started to snowball from there.
“I was speaking to people who are professionals and going to ride with them. I was living the dream.”
Noah’s plans to start competitive motocross freestyling came to a halt in March 2020 when the Covid lockdown came into effect.
Unable to race with his friends, it was a year before he was back on a bike at his grandparents’ track.
In March 2021, as restrictions started to ease, Noah made plans to practise jumps again.
He said: “As soon as we were allowed to, I was desperate to get back out.
“I went with two friends that I rode with and, because we hadn’t jumped in a long time, I decided to shorten the jump to make it safer.”
Instead of his usual 75ft, Noah moved the start and end points to make it a 50ft jump.
He added: “I rode up to it and autopilot just kind of kicked in. I hadn’t jumped something that short in a while and I just jumped a bit too far.
“Instead of coming down at the landing point, I hit the ground at the bottom.
“I didn’t come off the bike but I broke my back on the impact and just fell off.”
Unaware of how serious his injuries were, at first Noah thought he was winded.
It was only when he attempted to get back on his feet that he realised something was seriously wrong.
He was unable to move his legs, and Noah’s friends phoned an ambulance.
He said: “An ambulance and helicopter arrived, and I overheard a paramedic tell the helicopter they could go because it wasn’t as serious as they thought.
“At the time, I thought that was good and meant I’d be fine but they didn’t know my back was completely broken until I arrived at the local hospital.”
Transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, he spent an hour’s drive in the back of an ambulance which he said was “agony”.
Once there, it was determined that Noah would need to be moved to John Radcliffe Hospital for surgery.
Undergoing a six-hour operation, Noah had two rods and nine screws placed in his back to support his spine.
He said: “It took a few weeks for me to recover but finding out that I probably wasn’t going to walk again was devastating.
“For a long time, I was very in denial. I was like, ‘this is not my life, this is not happening’. I still do feel that way but I’m more accepting and getting on with my life.
“I spent a lot of time just waiting to get better but now I’m enjoying stuff that I’m able to do.”
Noah’s first experience with sport after his accident was downhill mountain biking, which he said was “amazing”.
He added: “I found a company that makes downhill mountain bikes for people with disabilities and I managed to get hold of one.
“It was a really big step for me getting back into the world.”
Getting in touch with Aaron Morgan, a McLaren driver who had a similar experience being paralysed in a motocross accident, Noah discovered Team BRIT, a competitive team of disabled drivers.
He said: “Now I race for Team BRIT which is very cool. I was offered a position on the rookie team and I jumped at the opportunity.”
Noah races the cars using his hands, with paddles on the back of the steering wheel to brake and accelerate and switches to move gears.
He said: “It’s all done on hydraulics and allows people with disabilities to competitively race, which is just honestly the best thing in the world. You completely forget that you’re in a wheelchair when you’re on a track and everyone’s racing you to race you, they’re not thinking anything differently. That’s one of the best things.”
Noah is racing every month in the lead-up to the Citroen C1 series which will see him race against able-bodied drivers.
He said: “It’s just the best feeling in the world to be able to race, it makes me feel exactly like I did when I used to motocross.
“Now I’m focused on training and working my way up and I hope to race with BMWs next year.
“Being part of Team BRIT has been such a great way to learn how to race properly. It’s given me an outlet to race again.”
