A NORTH Yorkshire veteran, who is dependent on a wheelchair to get around her home, turned thrill-seeker after successfully cycling down a Scottish mountain – headfirst.

Anita Bartram completed the mass-start endurance race, known as MacAvalanche, down the snow-capped Glencoe in Scotland as a member of a Help for Heroes team of wounded, injured and sick veterans and Service personnel.

Ms Bartram, from Kirkbymoorside, was left reliant on a wheelchair after an operation went wrong to repair neck and arm problems resulting from a car accident and was medically discharged from the QA Royal Army Nursing Corps after just over five years’ service.

The former Army nurse, who is a regular visitor to Phoenix House Recovery Centre in Catterick, was the only female team member to tackle MacAvalanche and, at 54, the oldest too.

She described the experience as "brilliant", adding: “I used an off-road handtrike which I had to kneel on and go head first, at speeds of almost 40mph.

"I had a good team behind me and just thought the whole thing was amazing.”