Exclusive by Owen Morgan

Welsh decathlete Ben Gregory says wearing a cycling helmet saved him from “having my head all over the pavement” after his bike was hit by a car in rush-hour London traffic.

The three-time Commonwealth Games competitor was left helpless as he flew through the air before landing head first on the tarmac last Monday evening.

Recounting the frightening incident, Gregory told Dai Sport: “I’m really, really grateful to just be able to walk away from it and not have my head all over the pavement really.

“My helmet has got these big, deep scratches in it. I was going through the air and could do absolutely nothing. I didn’t even have a chance to try and break my fall with anything.

“The first point of contact on the floor after being thrown from the bike was the top of my head. It would definitely have been serious damage there if I hadn’t had a helmet on.

“That’s what allowed me to get up and walk away from it and not have to need so much more medical attention.

“Even though I was pretty banged up, I wasn’t bleeding or anything. The scratches on the top of the helmet show it did the job and protected my skull and everything.”

The Birchfield Harrier is now urging all cyclist to always wear a helmet, no matter how short the journey.

Gregory said: “I know some people on short journeys may chose not to wear a helmet because they don’t think they needed to.

“Until you experience this sort of thing and you are able to walk away from it, purely because of having a helmet on, there’s no more motivation to wear one than that.

“Just get one and make sure that if you’re on your bike get your helmet on. There’s no option of thinking ‘oh, I’m just going to do this journey without one’.

“They go hand in hand. You own a bike you own a helmet. If you’re going on your bike you wear a helmet. It’s that simple.”

Gregory, who is a personal trainer with Manor gyms in London as well as being an international athlete and model, was on his way home from work when the accident happened.

As he cycled past a row of vehicles held up in the capital’s rush hour traffic, one of the cars suddenly pulled out.

The Great Britain international said: “Out of nowhere he just pulled out as I was in line with his car, so my bike ended up under his front wheel and I was thrown over the top.

“I was thrown well clear of the car and landed on the top of my head and my rucksack. It was all a bit of a shock and all happened so quickly that I didn’t really know what had happened.

“Then I seemed to be surrounded by people helping me and picking my stuff up and picking me up off the road, making sure I was alright.

“I looked back and I could see my bike underneath the front wheels and I was just like ‘Shit! In an instant, that could have been my legs’.

“I was so grateful, I had this rush of emotion that I was alive and wasn’t seriously damaged.

“I was able to get up to my feet, then quite quickly my head, back, neck and wrists all started to hurt, but I was like “I’m walking, I’m ok”! I was just happy and grateful for that.”

Remarkably, Gregory managed to make his own way to the nearby Homerton University Hospital.

“It happened really close to where I live in East London so I got myself home and the hospital is literally about the same distance away – just a few minutes’ walk. So I hobbled over there, struggling to stand upright because my neck and back were in so much pain.”

Gregory is full of praise for the care he received from staff at the hospital.
“They were really quick,” he said. “I had a doctor see me pretty much immediately to look at my neck.

“They weren’t happy with the responses I was giving to their questions, so they immediately lay me down onto a bed, strapped down with a neck brace on.

“They were super, super quick and amazingly efficient at getting me to have the scans done and everything like that.

“Luckily the bones in my neck and skull – I had a big lump on the back of the right side of my head – were ok. All the scans came back fine.

“So they gave me some pain relief and were happy to treat it as a concussion and make sure I had someone coming to get me. My girlfriend came to meet me and got me home.

“I didn’t get much rest that night though because my head was just pounding between the back of my head and my eyes, it was just really miserable. That first night back, I didn’t really sleep at all.

“Since then it has gradually been getting better and the more sleep I get, the more I am recovering, which is good.

“I’ve had a week down and out, but I feel I’ve got my energy back. I’ve just been laying around with my dog trying to recover and as the headaches have subsided I have been feeling more like myself.

“I still feel a bit weary and a bit lethargic, but on the whole heaps better. Each day gets a bit better. I’m hoping to get back to some normality very soon.”

For now, training and work at Manor are on hold for Gregory as he continues his recovery.

“Work have been really supportive,” he says. “That night, they were rallying around, making sure I was alright , if I needed anyone to come around.

“Sending me boxes of chocolates the next day and getting my classes covered saying ‘you don’t need to come in, just relax and get well’. They have been unreal.”

Gregory’s decathlon training is also on hold, for now, as he harbours ambitions to represent Wales in a remarkable fourth Commonwealth Games at Birmingham 2020.

Having previously competed at the Delhi, Glasgow and Gold Coast games, Gregory had spent this year concentrating on preparing to get himself into peak shape rather than competing following a knee problem and the disruption caused by Covid-19.

The 29-year-old said: “I was looking to have a quieter year this year anyway and then building up again for the home Commonwealth Games.

“I was battling knee issues pretty much for the duration of the season before and wasn’t making the progress I wanted to, so I was going to dedicate this year to getting my knee sorted and getting fit.

“I wasn’t enjoying it, so I just wanted to fall back in love with the training and everything like that. I felt like I was getting to a point where I could do that.

“I’d been working hard on the rehabilitation of my knees, just trying to make sure I could give the season all of the training and dedication it would require to have a good go at the Birmingham Commonwealths.

“Then everyone had no season, so it kind of gave me a bit of hope that I hadn’t missed out on too much. As the seasons come and go, you feel like if you’ve missed one that you’re off the pace, but everyone missed it this year.”

Gregory is hoping his cycling crash won’t have too much of an effect on his Commonwealth Games ambitions.

“Obviously I’ll have to go through some physio and get some medical attention to make sure everything’s ok. The way my neck and shoulders are at the minute I couldn’t imagine doing anything.

“But I’ve been bashed up before, I’ve had some serious accidents in the pole vault. People probably don’t know how it compares with getting hit by a car, but I would say getting thrown the wrong way off a five-metre pole onto a hard track is not dissimilar!

“So I’m well versed in the falls and stuff like that. I imagine that with a few physio treatments and a bit more rehabilitation for some of those injuries I will bounce back.

“It would be my fourth Commonwealths and I don’t think there has been a decathlete who has been to a fourth Games and competed. I’m not sure about any of the other track and field events.

“It’s definitely a goal that’s out there. I don’t want to put too much pressure on the build-up, so just keeping everything quiet and quite general at the moment with training and just trying to be fit and strong and in a place where I am able to train for all the events and not be injured. Just have a good go at it, feel healthy and keep enjoying it.

“We will have to see, maybe I may drop down to the pole vault or something like that if the decathlon training seems a little too tough. We’ll see how it goes.”

A more immediate challenge may be climbing back on his bike . . . although he will need to replace the old one first.

“The bike’s toast,” says Gregory. “The front wheel and the front forks are all bent up like a banana. I haven’t even looked at replacing it yet. I’ve just concentrated on my recovery.

“But I will need a new bike, I’ve got to get about to work and everything and it’s a lot quicker than the train and a lot cheaper than public transport, so in the near future I’ll be looking for a new set of wheels, but not just yet.

“It’s much better to be on the bike in peak time traffic, or I used to say that anyway!”

One thing’s for sure, whenever Gregory does get back in his bike, he will be certain to be wearing a helmet.