A VETERAN who is dependent on a wheelchair to get around her home, has successfully cycled down a Scottish mountain – headfirst.

Anita Bartram, from Kirkbymoorside, completed the mass-start endurance race, known as MacAvalanche, down Glencoe in Scotland as a member of a Help for Heroes team of wounded, injured and sick veterans and service personnel.

She was the only female team member and, at 54, the oldest too.

“It was brilliant,” said the former Army nurse.

“I used an off-road handtrike which I had to kneel on and go head first, at speeds of almost 40mph. I had a good team behind me and just thought the whole thing was amazing.

"It’s something I never thought I would do and, after MacAvalanche, I am desperately looking for something else to challenge myself.”

Anita was medically discharged from the QA Royal Army Nursing Corps after an operation to repair neck and arm problems resulting from a car accident, went wrong.

But with help from Phoenix House in Catterick, she has started to try other new activities and grow in confidence.