St George’s alumna wins Gold for Great Britain in the Para-cycling Road World Championships

Published: 14 October 2022

St George’s alumna, Para-athlete and Physiotherapist, Fran Brown, won Gold for Great Britain in the Para-cycling Road World Championships in Canada this summer. Passionate about sports from a young age, Fran developed a love of indoor and outdoor climbing and taking part in junior competitions during her time at school.

“Determination, and the desire to take part in the same sports, pushed me to find ways to overcome the limitations imposed by my injury.”

An accident at work in 2006 left Fran with a C4 incomplete spinal cord injury. Determined to find a way to take part in the sports she loved, she began climbing again five years later following a period of rehabilitation. Speaking about what helped her adapt to her disability, Fran says, “A wish to be independent day to day really pushed me to find ways to adapt and overcome the limitations imposed by my injury.” By 2012, she was crowned British Paraclimbing Champion in the neuro-physical disability class.

Fran decided to combine her love of sport with her interest in anatomy, re-training as a physiotherapist at St George’s in 2013, where she was one of the first wheelchair users to train in this profession in the UK. Reflecting on her time at St George’s, Fran says:

“I chose the university because of its reputation for Healthcare subjects and its location, as I was already based in London.

"As a student with a disability, I also liked the fact that St George’s was flexible and adaptable to help accommodate my needs. I found that about half of my classmates were mature students like me, which helped with the transition from work to studying, and I really enjoyed the anatomy and physiology modules in my first year.”

- Fran Brown -

alongside her degree, she also continued to pursue her career as an athlete, taking up swimming, cycling and running over the subsequent years.

Since then, she has taken part in several European and World Championships, including the 2021 Europe Triathlon Championships Valencia, when she won first place, and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games when she was awarded 4th place. Fran also won Gold at the Ostend UCI Paracycling World Cup C1 Road race in 2017.

“I’d like to find a role when I retire as an athlete that will allow me to use my experiences of overcoming challenges to help motivate others.”

Fran continues to balance her commitments as an athlete with a role as a Locum Physiotherapist and says, “Working as a Locum Physiotherapist helps me keep a broad range of experience and skills, and the flexibility means I can take time off when it’s needed for racing and training camps.”

Sharing her ambitions for the future, Fran says that she hopes to take part in the Paris Paralympics, potentially for cycling rather than the triathlon. She adds: "In terms of Physiotherapy, I’d like to find a role when I retire as an athlete that will allow me to use my experiences of overcoming challenges to help motivate others. I'd like to put my sports and exercise medicine Masters to use, too.”

Join us at an Alumni Perspectives event to hear more from Fran

Fran will be joining us next month for our first Alumni Perspectives event of the 2022-23 academic year.

Look out for more information about the event on our website, or on our social media pages.

Read more about our Alumni Perspectives event series here.