Ben enjoyed a rich and varied sporting background playing football and water polo as well as mountain biking from primary school age.
As an intermediate aged student he competed in Para swimming at AIMS Games before he was introduced to Para cycling through a Para Cycling Talent ID Camp in 2019.
“I thought it was pretty cool and once I started racing, and once I started to enjoy some success I was hooked,” explains Ben.
Born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC), a rare congenital condition which affects the joints in Ben’s arms has restricted strength and movement in his hands.
“My disability means that holding onto the handlebars and in particular braking is difficult,” he explains. “I ride a mountain bike with a hand brace and 3D printed adaptations to the brakes that I helped design. Track cycling is perfect for me because there are no brakes.”
The former Tauranga Boys College student was selected into the Para Cycling High Performance Athlete Development Squad at the age of 14, and since then has since gone from strength to strength.
In March 2023, Ben shattered the New Zealand C5 individual pursuit record, clocking 4:40.742 to hack several seconds from the previous record.
On his international debut at the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow aged 18, Ben excelled to secure C4 15km silver in the scratch race and bronze in the C4 omnium.
Believing he has a “good natural endurance base” and enjoying the “process of training” the industrial design student is also fortunate to train at Cambridge around other top-class Para cyclists.
“It is a massive help to train alongside and be able to talk to the other Para cyclists because they know and understand what you go through,” he adds.
At the 2024 Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Rio, Ben claimed four top ten spots highlighted by fifth in the C4 Omnium and sixth in the C4 Individual Pursuit.
Later that year he earned selection to make his Paralympic debut at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in both the Men’s C4 Individual Pursuit and Men’s C4-5 1000m Time Trial events. Unfortunately, he was a late withdrawal from the team for Paris 2024 due to a concussion sustained in a training accident.
He has a passion for design, and he has made an attachment which is fitted between the prosthetic and the handlebars of the bike for fellow New Zealand international Para cyclist Nicole Murray.
