British Cycling announced yesterday that Karen Darke will be one of the nine-strong team representing Great Britain at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Canada next month.

Karen impressed the coaches after winning two bronze medals at the Para-cycling World Cup in Spain in June. She will now join more than 500 athletes from 30 to 40 countries to take part in the World Championships.

“I’m very excited about it, about having a great excuse to go cycling even more than normal, and just the chance to see what is possible when we work hard at something....always the niggling fear that it won't pay off (and I've had an injured hand / finger since the World Cup in Spain), but that’s just self-doubt. As someone said to me yesterday, the only thing that stops us from being great is settling for being good. Looking forward to trying, but lots of work to do yet!”

Since breaking her back after falling from a Scottish sea-cliff, Karen has been determined to challenge the preconceptions of just what is possible for someone who can feel nothing below the chest. Even before leaving hospital she ordered herself a race chair, completing the London marathon just a year later.

Read Karen's full profile here...

Its now been 17 years since her accident. In this time, Karen has undertaken numerous adventures and challenges, which have included cycling across the Himalayas, skiing across Greenland and hauling herself up the imposing granite wall of El Capitan in Yosemite. Just one of these challenges is more than most of us will attempt in our lifetime. But its also long been Karen’s ambition to compete in the Olympics, and going to the World Championships in August will take her one step closer to achieving this dream.

Despite already being in her mid-thirties, Karen decided couple of years ago that she would set her sights on the 2012 olympics and just go for it. Unlike many paraplegics, Karen has no stomach muscles and relies entirely on the strength in her arms and shoulders to operate her hand-bike. Her training has been tough, but her resolve is even tougher. If anyone can overcome the odds it will be Karen, and we look forward to watching her try.