THE aftersales manager at a Southampton car retailer is back in the saddle after coming out of retirement to compete in a gruelling veterans’ Enduro motocross series.
Paul Garland, of West Way Nissan, had hung up his helmet and gloves two years ago after a successful amateur motocross career spanning more than a quarter of a century.
But now the 44-year-old father of two from Chandlers Ford has decided to climb back aboard his powerful KTM250 bike for another shot at adrenaline-fuelled sporting glory.
And he’s chosen to return in one of the most difficult disciplines of all. Enduro events – long distance cross-country time trial competitions – are notoriously demanding and feature all manner of challenging obstacles, including fences and water traps.
An excited Paul, who’s competing in the Southern Centre Timecard Series, said: ‘I started competing in motocross competitions as a 16-year-old and absolutely loved it but time took its toll and I decided back in 2011 that it was probably time to call it a day.
‘But as I sat at home on weekends when I would have been charging across fields and through forests I really began to miss the excitement and the action.
Not a cheap hobby
‘Then I was chatting to a colleague who was roughly the same age as me and who had recently returned to the sport he used to do when he was younger and I thought I should give it another go. I felt I owed it to myself to go one for as long as I could.
‘So far I’ve only taken part in a couple of meets but I’m absolutely loving being back.’
He added: ‘It’s certainly not a cheap hobby and the type of riding we do is really hard on the bikes and we need to fork out a lot on things like replacement parts and tyres. That’s why I’m really grateful to West Way who have loaned me a van to transport all my gear to and from events.’