Former soldier James Cairns who lost a leg when he was shot in Afghanistan completed a ‘tough mudder’ obstacle course but vowed: “Never again!”
It wasn’t that the challenge of the muddy run and swim was too much for hard-as-nails James.
It was that the muck and guts was too much for his prosthetic leg!
James, 26, of Honley, wanted to test himself to the limits in Tough Mudder Yorkshire at Broughton Hall, Skipton.
He did that by completing the gruelling event in four hours and 42 minutes – but within minutes of hitting the mud and water his false leg was crying enough.
“It’s called a Tough Mudder and it was tough,” said James. “It was really hard. As soon as I came to the first obstacle and slid down into ice cold water the socket of my leg was wet and it was rubbing all the way through.
“The mud and grit got into the leg and I could hear it grinding on the carbon fibre.”
James took part with brother Gordon and pals Nikki Lee and Jamie Furness and all four stuck together – sometimes literally – as they encouraged and cajoled each other through to the finish line.
“I’d hardly done any training and when I got home I couldn’t walk upstairs,” said James. “I had to crawl. It was pitiful for a couple of days.
“But the reaction of people as we were going round kept me going. They were slapping me on the back and saying I was an inspiration. It was a great reaction.”
James, a private in the Yorkshire Regiment, lost his right leg after he was shot by the Taliban in October 2011.
Medics fought for two years to save his damaged limb but eventually it had to be amputated.
James, shot as he lay flat on his belly, needed 16 hours of surgery and five blood transfusions to save his life.
He was fitted with a prosthetic leg and it was the leg that has given up on the Tough Mudders not James.
“I’ve done it now and don’t need to do one again,” he said. “The leg was in a bad way. I took it back to where I got it from in Sheffield for a service.
“I told them straightaway what I had done and they took it away. It took them an hour-and-a-half to clean it up and get it back in full working order.”
James, who was medically discharged from the army in May, has an appointment to be measured for a running blade, similar to those made famous by South African athlete Oscar Pistorius.
He hopes to be running by the end of the year and wants to compete in the Invictus Games, a international Paralympic-style sports event for sick, injured or wounded soldiers and service veterans.
Backed by Prince Harry, it has just been announced that the second games will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, next May.
Invictus means “unconquered” and the first games were held in London in 2014.
James hopes to compete in the 100m and 1,500m and said: “There will probably be trials but I will be picked. Failure is not an option!
“Oh, and I want to do the London Marathon next year as well.”
