SPORTSMAN Callum Hall has become the first person to be presented with a racing wheelchair from a range launched by paralympic legend Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Callum, of Yeadon, is hoping to compete in the 2016 Paralympics. He is part of a training group organised and coached by Ian Thompson, which also includes Jade Jones, the Commonwealth Bronze medallist, and Simon Lawson, recently named in the GB team for the IPC World Marathon Championships.

For the past 30 years, Tanni and her husband Ian have been involved in a range of wheelchair sports as competitors, coaches and enthusiasts. Now they are joining forces with Invacare Ltd and the Top End brand in particular to offer sports wheelchair equipment for all ages and abilities in a new business which they are calling Aim High.

Baroness Grey-Thompson said: “We want to help people reach their goals, be that getting a bit fitter and healthier, being able to get out into the fresh air/countryside, ride with the kids, participate in a local fun run and who knows where that may lead just...Aim High.”

The launch of the new business was marked this month by the handover to Callum of the first racing wheel-chair to be sold through the business.

Speaking on Facebook he said: “Anyone wanting a new race chair, measured by someone who really knows what they are talking about, this is the company to use!

Callum was a trainee PE teacher when he was left paralysed from the chest down after a freak accident on a Greek holiday in 2012. He developed a spinal abscess that burst after stepping on a sea urchin. He was told he was unlikely to walk again.

He was determined to regain movement in his legs, and a trust fund was set up to pay for equipment and treatment to help him achieve his aim. Funds were raised to buy an ‘Easy Stand’ – a piece of equipment which allows him to stand on his feet. It was hoped the equipment will help to establish new connections from his brain to his legs.

Callum was aged 20 and in the middle of a degree course in sports coaching at the University of Northumbria when the accident happened.