Connor's friend and team-mate at Stamford Rugby Club, Seb Goold, was just nine years old at Easter 2014 when he fell from a moving coach on his way back from a mini Rugby tournament in Norfolk. 

His life changed forever in that moment and he suffered horrific and life changing injuries which necessitated the amputation of his right leg at the thigh in order to save his life. After nearly 6 months and 30 operations in Addenbrookes, followed by 3 months at an intensive rehabilitation centre for children in Surrey, Seb finally returned home just before Christmas.

He is on a long road to recovery but he rejoined his twin brother and friends back at school in Jan and after much hard work will now progress up to year 6 in Sept.

Before the accident Seb was an outstanding sportsman, challenging himself (as well as his friends and teammates) with his enthusiasm and desire to improve. 

He has always had a great sense of humour and this has been much in evidence throughout his recovery, as has his relentless determination to get better. He has though had to change his sports ambitions, but is determined to get back into and excel at sports again in the future.

The Seb Goold Trust was established in 2014 in response to the support shown by the community, friends at school and from local and national sporting clubs, who all expressed a desire to help Seb maintain his athletic potential. The Trust's motto is “Work Hard, Aim High”, which very much reflects the personality of this very special boy.

The immediate aims are to procure specialist sporting equipment which will help Seb during his long process of rehabilitation and enable him to take part fully in school, social and sporting life. Eventually, the aim is to purchase the most up-to-date and responsive prosthetic equipment to allow him to ‘aim high’ for his future sporting life; an aspriational target that Friends of the Trust have set is to raise £50,000 which is the cost of a state of the art Ottobock Genium X3 sports leg that will allow him to fulfil his sporting potential.

To this end, his coaches at Stamford Rugby are arranging the Seb Goold 500 cycle ride, comprising two sponsored cycle events, to raise money for the Trust.

The first event will be an arduous continuous non-stop cycle relay by three teams of riders around Rutland Water, where some of Seb’s rugby coaches and friends will attempt to cover 500 kms (310 miles) in approximately 24 hours.  The ride will start on Saturday 19 Sept, and will finish on Sunday 20 Sept (in time for training).

The second event will be Seb’s friends and teammates participating in a single 27 km (17 mile) lap of Rutland Water on 19 Sept.

For this “players’” ride, we are inviting mini-rugby players from local rugby clubs to join the ride and raise funds for the Trust.

It is typical of the rugby family that we compete against each other on the pitch, but support and socialise with each other after the game.

 Thank you so much for reading this page.