2021 Winner
Mark Ormrod
Royal Marine was the first triple amputee to survive an IED blast in Afghanistan, defying medics to walk again, then raising huge amounts to help others.
Mark was on patrol in Helmand Province on Christmas Eve in 2007, when he was blown up by a Taliban improvised explosive device.
He lost an arm and both legs below the knee in the blast and was twice pronounced dead at the scene.
Doctors originally told him that he would never walk again. But just five months later, he marched onto the parade ground on prosthetics to collect his tour of duty medal.
Since then he’s gone on to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity by undertaking remarkable feats of endurance.
He has run 3,500 miles across the US to raise awareness of wounded veterans, cycled 3,000 miles around the UK, and won 11 medals including five gold at the Invictus Games.
This year he decided to raise money for the veterans’ charity REORG. What started as a plan to raise £1,000 with a beard shave has turned into a challenge that has already hit almost half a million pounds. The 38-year-old has completed a 5km run, a 1km swim across Plymouth Sound, and a 99.9 mile bike ride.
Mark said: “I never wanted to be a burden on anyone either my family or the taxpayer and I used that as my motivation to regain my independence and push myself as hard as I could so my wife and children would be proud of me.”