morning and I’m sitting on the start
line and my first World Championships
I’ve been planning this day and
preparing for it for years and Here I am
oh I’m cackling my pants I’m literally
sitting there I mean my boat and I’ve
got the white water around me it’s going
shhh and there’s my competitor in front
of me and there’s his clock just to the
side I’m in this gorgeous place in the
mountains so I’ve got the mountains over
to my left and this valley over to my
right I’m all i hear is this put this
noise beeb beeb beeb beeb beeb and
suddenly the person in front of me has
gone and they look like a Duracell bunny
as they fly off into the distance and I
start thinking what on earth do I do now
I’m looking over to the left I’m looking
over to the right thinking what do I do
I’m holding my paddle like this and it’s
tapping onto the boat because I’m so
scared and I can hear my heart going
thud thud thud thud and so I’ve now got
in my head is going Shh tap tap tap tap
tap tap I look over and I see my coach
and I look for him some for inspiration
and he looks white as a sheet and all I
can sort of sit there and think to
myself is go crap crap crap crap crap
crap crap at that point if someone had
asked me my name I would have gone name
name what do I do and then all of a
sudden 30 seconds has gone is like what
do I do now and then suddenly I’m stop
watching this clock and it’s like on
countdown you can just see this red
secondhand just fooling around and I’m
staring at it and then staring over to
my left and going what do I do and at 15
seconds just to raise the atmosphere
just that little bit more it goes big
and I go
at 10 seconds you get another beep and
it was at that point my shoulder just
went oh and I smiled and I remembered
what my friend had said to me before I
left the UK and she said Jilly on that
start line I know you’re going to be
really nervous but remember you’ve done
all of your preparation you know you’re
ready physically you’re ready mentally
you know this river like the back of
your hand you know every single stroke
just take a second and smile and on that
10 seconds that’s exactly what I did and
it’s like time slowed down and on the
five seconds I got these five beeps and
it was like I’m sitting there my hand is
on my paddle my feet on the footrest and
every single beat done going beep beep
beep babe and off I go like a rocket and
it was one of my best races ever and I
came 15th but how do I get how did I get
to that point I’m 20 years old and it’s
750 nine in the evening I’ve got these
gorgeous mountains over to my left and
this valley over to my right we’d been
out walking for the day and the plan was
to go and see the sunset but it hadn’t
quite worked out we’ve got ourselves
into trouble we’ve lost our way and if
we’d had taken every single choice in a
different format I wouldn’t have found
myself in the situation I now was are
now lying on the side of the mountain my
heart’s going thud-thud-thud-thud-thud
my eyes are wide open but I can’t see a
thing I’ve just fallen 200 feet 60 feet
straight down on 140 of tumbling a
bouncing I bounced seven times I know
that because I remember every single
bounce on the 4th bounced it was like I
was on a roller coaster and I flew up in
the air and the only thing that went
through my brain was
and I hit the ground and as I went up
into the air for the fifth time I was
like this is not normal I need to stop
this and I remember flicking out my arms
to try and slow myself down and as I hit
for that sixth time after all I wasn’t
quick that time I went up and I so I
chucked my arms out and ichat my legs
out and I hate for the seventh time and
then I finally had stopped it’s in the
evening I got to watch the sunset but I
was in a lot of pain and my friend
finally managed to sort find where i was
i remember his face I will never ever
forget his face he looked gray he’d look
so scared and I remember trying to
convince him that it was I was going to
be okay he needed to go down the
mountain and get help and to leave me
there I spent the longest night of my
life I was cold it started to rain I was
in America I was in a place called
Albuquerque in New Mexico a place where
it rains maybe four or five days every
year that night it rained luck was not
necessarily on my side and as I lie
there I was like what do I do I had to
try and think how do I keep myself going
I went in and out of consciousness all
night trying to control the pain by
through breathing and eventually I got
picked up i had a copter in the morning
but I’d hit him one thing I didn’t tell
my friend what I felt as if for
something was wrong and before he left
I’d kind of checked my body out and I
knew I felt like I had broken something
in this one in this region here because
it felt like a bone was kind of sticking
out but I hadn’t told him that I knew
there was something wrong with my neck
and I kept hiding this and I got all
that all the way to the point of being
in hospital and I said look there’s
something wrong with my neck because I’m
in America it sound like an episode of
kind of ER and I remember being there
going oh my god this is happening to me
I found out I’d broken my pelvis in four
places
I’d fractured my skull and had an open
wound to my head here I had an open
wound to the bone on my left shin and I
had broken my neck I hadn’t just broken
my neck I had fractured c4 and I
desiccated c5 and c6 I’d actually
obtained the same injury as a famous
actor Christopher Reeve who played the
original Superman the difference being
his spinal cord severed my narrowed to a
fraction there i was now laying in
hospital I was 20 years old I had my
whole life ahead of me I was so excited
I I was you know very athletic very
driven very independent and now here was
I can’t move staring up at a really
boring ceiling I’d had this major
operation and I was told just be happy
to walk again I didn’t want that I
wanted my life back I was between my
second year and final year of University
I didn’t want to walk I wanted to run I
wanted to do all the all my fun things I
wanted to be back in a boat again I
didn’t think it was possible and I
remember this one afternoon this person
came into my hospital room I remember
her voice I never I don’t know what she
looked like and she came in say do you
know what and I’m in a really ratty mood
at this point and i can imagine a sort
of coming in and putting her hands on
her hips like this oh gee know what and
I reply with what you have to want to
get better and at that point in the mood
I was in I did what most teenagers do I
shouted back at her you have no idea
what I’ve been going through what’s
happened to me leave me alone and she
did the best thing possible she said
nothing and all I heard was these
footsteps and a slam of the door and
more footsteps and I was left there to
stew what is it that wanted I couldn’t
answer that question I knew what I
didn’t want I didn’t want to just walk I
wanted to run because to run you have to
walk to walk you have to be able to
stand
stand you have to be able to sit up and
to sit up you have to be able to get out
of bed suddenly walking was just a mere
stepping stone they told me I’d be in
hospital for about 12 months I couldn’t
think of anything worse it was like all
these sort of barriers were put in place
but I now had a goal I wanted to run and
I like to prove people wrong and I’m
stubborn really stubborn i’m also very
competitive with myself 12 months i had
to be back at university within five
weeks 12 months was not an option so i
took my first step and as I did that the
doctor said huh you can actually well
maybe you only be in hospital for six
months I was like yes I’ve taken off six
months and before I knew it I was out of
hospital within two and a half weeks I
was back at my university registering
five weeks later I knew what I wanted it
did take me two years to learn how to
run and after that I thought well what’s
next it was quite obvious to me I wanted
to represent my country it was a
childhood dream I’d had and I’ve tried
all sorts of things to try and do this
in the past but I wanted to represent my
country and where my gb colors three
years after falling I was 23 years old i
sat on my first start line and as I SAT
there I was so nervous that it overcame
me and I never completed my first race I
fell in I swam across the finish line
and I had dnf did not finish I was
absolutely overwhelmed so that following
year when I was 24 when I sat on that
start line I had to find a way I had to
find a strategy to do with my nerves
that’s why i was so pleased
but one side actually did that I thought
what do I want next I was 15th in the
world I wanted to be the best that I
could be I wanted to be the best in the
world my dreams and goals changed every
single time and I got to that point
where I thought why not it took me nine
years from when I fell off a mountain to
actually stand on the podium and I got a
bronze medal at the World Championships
I held this meadow and thought wow and I
had a tear just run down my face and the
reason for that was all the people that
helped me get there I’ve when on this
massive roller coaster I’d been injured
when you fall off a mountain and break
your neck it doesn’t leave you necessary
in the best way and you have to overcome
things that people just don’t even
realize you have to find different ways
of doing things and that’s exactly what
I did but once you become the best in
the world and a European multiple
European champion what do you do what
becomes next in December 2015 a little
carrot was dangled at me Jilly what are
you doing next summer and I said I’m
going to do this altered endurance race
and try and break the record oh why do
you fancy joining a team to cross the
Atlantic and be a part of a
record-breaking all-women’s crew and try
and break the speed record I was like
that sounds like fun so in january i
went to the selection I’ve never rode
before I’m a canoeist I face forwards
but I went to the selection and somehow
got selected and I remember going into
work on that Monday morning going oh my
god and then went oh my god I get really
I’m ty actually hate the sea I hate the
taste of it and I’m really scared I have
a fear of jellyfish what am I thinking
but no no it’s gonna be fine i said to
myself because I want to change myself
both physically and mentally in the best
way I can I want to do something that
not many people get the chance to do so
why not and on the seventh of june
twenty sixteen i left the statue of
liberty at midnight at midday with four
other women and set to row home and
finishing and Falmouth and I remember it
got two the 40th day and I thought I
just can’t do this I had sores on my
bottom and friction burns I couldn’t
even sit down for more than five minutes
I had blisters on my hands that were
just so infected and I was miserable I
was so tired we did two hours on two
hours off the yours every single day 24
hours a day how do I you know had what
do i do and i remembered one thing that
I give set myself I couldn’t control
other people I can’t control the weather
the only thing I could control was me
and the combination of all my years as
being an athlete I remember I said
before I stepped on a vote that every
time I came into the oars I would smile
and I would enjoy and appreciate and
enjoy that journey of doing it and on
that 40th day when it felt like I just
couldn’t do it anymore I smiled and
thought I can do this I’ve done the
preparation I’m mentally prepared we’re
almost home we’ve got about a thousand
nautical miles to do and we’re there on
the 49th day we came in to Falmouth and
it was one of the most proudest moments
of my life we managed to break five
World Records and actually make for
world firsts and it was amazing feeling
but I ask you one question he success
through choice or chance for me it’s
through choice and I ask myself
constantly why not what
to stop me from doing something and I
ask all you guys what one thing have you
chosen not to do and ask yourself the
question why not what is stopping you
success comes through choice and that’s
what I live and breathe if I can do it
so can you thank [Applause]