Born in Falmouth Clara Brown almost fell off her bike just before the finish line at the Paris Paralympic Games.
When Brown was in the middle of the last sprint of the women’s C1-3 road race (54.6 kilometers), her right arm suddenly went limp, which made her stand awkwardly with her chest up against the handlebars.
She lost her second-place spot because she couldn’t pedal properly, but amazingly she held on for third place, finishing one second ahead of Anna Beck of Sweden with a time of 1:38:48.
“My bike was too heavy for me to handle.” Brown said, “I really tried not to crash.” The thought of crossing the finish line scared me, but it felt great when I did. I was sure I could win a title.
Brown, 28, has had a lot of good and bad luck in her life, and the last 75 meters of her first Paralympic gold race were a perfect example.
Brown was born competitive and was the third of four children. He had a very active youth that changed a lot when he was 12. By chance, Brown fell on her head while tumbling and hurt her cervical vertebrae. Suddenly, she was paralyzed from the neck down.
“It felt like I was gone.” Brown said, “I didn’t understand how bad it was.” “I remember the nurse telling me I’d never walk again in the ambulance.”
Brown’s injury to her cervical spine was fortunate in that it allowed her to start weight-assisted treadmill training quickly.
Within months, she was walking again, but for two years she was in a wheelchair because of an unknown disease that led to her having a hip replacement at age 15.
Brown says that the initial spinal damage from gymnastics was probably the cause of her hip pain that wouldn’t go away. She still can’t feel anything on the left side of her body and has trouble moving her right side.
As a biker, she gets about 60 to 70% of her power from her left side, but she can only use her right to do things like check the temperature of water.
“I had clear goals and was making great progress.” “Having this clear setback with my hip was really hard,” Brown said. “I was in a lot of pain and missed a lot of things.”
From there, Brown’s sports career and mental health took two big turns: in high school, she found her love for rowing, and in college, she found her love for biking.
Even though Brown is only 5 feet 2 inches tall, she felt right at home as a coxswain on youth and master’s teams in the Falmouth and Yarmouth area. She had grown tired of coxswaining by the time she started school at the University of Puget Sound in Washington.
A friend suggested she try riding with a modified gear-shifting system to account for her neurological problems.
Brown was hooked.
“I was good at coxing and got along well with the crews, but it was tough to see everyone else work so hard,” Brown said. “That’s how I wanted to push myself, so biking became my way to do it.” It was easy, and I loved riding my bike to see the world.
As the Cumberland resident got stronger and more confident, she joined the USA Paralympic team in 2018 as a C3 athlete (moderate limb dysfunction for upright cyclists). She went on to win several World Cups and even make it to Tokyo.
Brown’s best moment was competing in Paris, where he could do it in front of real people and stay in the Village (the Tokyo Olympics were held during the pandemic). On September 4, she came in eighth place in the women’s C1-3 individual time trial. On September 7, she won a medal in the women’s C1-3 road race.
Brown said, “I want to make everyone who has helped me proud and get the most out of my body.” “A lot of people would kill to be in my shoes.” “I’m so lucky.”