I have this theory about greatness: to be truly great at something it is an advantage if you've known true hardship. To rise out of hardship, of any kind, you have to normalise a stoic work ethic, you have to channel a steely determination and you have to be prepared to do the things that others will not. I've seen it many times in successful athletes over the years, but the athlete I photographed last week truly epitomises this theory.
In October 2010 mountain biker Jamie Nicoll was helping a Kiwi trail-building team chip a trail across the rocky face of a cliff edge in Patagonia. He stopped on the side of the ledge and turned off his machine to check the source of a petrol leak. The tank had heated up and the fuel was under pressure. He took the cap off and was drenched in vapourised fuel.
A few seconds later the heated fuel ignited, engulfing Jamie in flames.
"I jumped off the ledge away from the machine – I knew I was roped in so I swung down," recalls Jamie. "I was beating my face and calling for help and then I realised I had to do something about this myself. I remember thinking 'this is interesting I don't have many ways of getting out of this – I was on fire and tied to this rope'. So I put my head down into the flames and undid my helmet just as the flames cleared. The fuel had burnt off my t-shirt and body."
Jamie said his hands were burned and grey, but he used them to undo the carabiners and buckles.
"I boosted down this steep face and into a creek – it was so cold – it still had snowpack in it that had been caught in this steep little ravine."
Jamie was evacuated off the mountain to a hospital where it was assessed he had third-degree burns to 35% of his body.
Jamie was placed into an induced coma for several weeks and then faced two months of rehabilitation in ICU and the burns unit. After three months he started to ride his bike to his burns therapy appointments at the hospital. In the following year he was faced with rebuilding his body mass and repairing his wasted muscles, which he did alongside an endless routine of stretching to keep his grafted skin from contracting and restricting his range of movement. Remarkably, in 2012 he raced selected enduro mountain bike events in Europe and USA. He returned in 2013, on his own funding, to the newly formed Enduro World Series where he turned heads in the world of mountain biking with regular top-10 performances.
Just a few months ago he was rewarded with a factory ride for the French-based Polygon UR team – a salary and full support at the events for 2014.
"It's quite funny for me – I never set out to become a professional rider ... I guess it proves in life that if you do things out of passion, and put your energy there, then it comes your way," he laughs.
Jamie, who splits his time in New Zealand between Queenstown and Dunedin, would have to be one of our finest athletes with a pretty astounding back story. Inspiring.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS We made a cool web film on the wildlife around Dunedin's beaches with our friend Victoria Sturt. Check it out here.
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