CRASH cyclist Emma Davies Jones is finally back on her bike - but has just 60 days to chase her dream of a Commonwealth Games medal.

Emma, 27, feared her career was over after she was involved in a horror crash in October on her way to training at the National Velodrome in Manchester.

She suffered serious spinal injuries and it has taken three months for doctors to give her the all-clear to get back on her racing bike and resume training.

Now Emma, who represented Britain in the 2004 Olympics, faces a race against time to regain fitness in time for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games which start on March 15. Emma resumed her training at the Velodrome yesterday. She told the Manchester Evening News: "No-one was there to watch because I didn't want a fuss, but I did around 80 laps.

"I had to do them in 20 lap chunks because my back was seizing up, but it was great to get back out there.

"It was very emotional. I had the biggest grin on my face and a little cry when I was telling my mum on the phone on the way home. She has done everything for me throughout all of this, so it was a big milestone for us both."

Newlywed Emma had been training on a static bike and in the gym under the careful eye of a physiotherapist until a final scan this week revealed her back had healed enough to risk going out on the track.

She said: "Although I had been talking about going to the Games, I hadn't really been thinking about it properly because I had to take each day and each small hurdle as it came. But now, finally I know it really is possible."

Emma was cycling along Pottery Lane in Manchester when she was knocked off her bike on October 10.

A pedestrian quickly recognised she had a back injury and told Emma to lie still in the ground until an ambulance arrived.

Specialists at Hope Hospital said it was only that quick action that saved Emma from being paralysed because a piece of vertebrae had become dislodged and could have severed her spinal cord.

Emma has launched a charity appeal to raise funds for the spinal injuries unit at Hope Hospital.

More information can be found at www.emmadaviesjones.co.uk

Nicola.dowling@men-news.co.uk

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