Aaron Phipps

Aaron Phipps
Birth name Aaron Phipps
Date of birth (1983-04-07) 7 April 1983
Place of birth Southampton
Spouse Vicky Phipps
Children Ella Phipps
Rugby union career
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)

Aaron Phipps (born 7 April 1983)[1] is a British wheelchair rugby player.

He is part of the Great Britain national wheelchair rugby team and competed in Wheelchair rugby at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, Great Britain.[2]

On 7 January 1999 Aaron contracted Meningitis C. and Meningococcal septicemia. As a result of this illness Aaron was in a controlled coma for 2 weeks. Following this, in March, it was required that his legs and most of his fingers be amputated. In total Aaron spent a year in hospital, receiving treatment and recovering.[3]

In 2007 Aaron began to get involved in wheelchair races and raised money for a Meningitis charity by completing a 10 km race in Totton. He has also completed 2 London Marathons (2008 & 2009)[4][5] and in 2009 was ranked 4th UK Male in both the London Marathon and the Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon.[6]

As a child attending Calmore Middle School in Totton, under teacher supervision and for the amusement of the whole school in morning assembly, Phipps attempted to deliberately turn his face red. Shortly after achieving this, Phipps fainted - much to the amusement of over 300 watching pupils.

On 23 May 2016 Phipps became the first disabled British person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro[7] During large parts of the ascent Phipps was forced to climb on his hands and knees because the wheelchair wasn't capable of traversing the difficult terrain but was able to complete the climb without any assistance.

References

  1. ↑ "Athlete Profiles". paralympics.org.uk. British Paralympic Association. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Hudson, Elizabeth. "Paralympics: 10 to watch". BBC Disability Sport. BBC. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "Official Site". Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Flora London Marathon 2008 Results".
  5. ↑ "Flora London Marathon 2009 Results".
  6. ↑ "Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon 2009 Race Report". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Nagesh, Ashitha. "Paralympian becomes first man to scale Mt Kilimanjaro in wheelchair". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2016.


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