In the run up to the Corporate Relay Challenge – a race which will raise money for military patients treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and support future Olympic and Paralympic athletes – the Birmingham Post is highlighting those who will benefit.

It has been a tough year for Lora Turnham, sticking to a punishing six-month schedule of training for an elite sport while studying full-time at the University of Birmingham.

So the 22-year-old is thrilled to have not only graduated with a 2:1 in Physiotherapy, but to be currently ranked first in the Elite women Union Cyclist Internationale (UCI) tandem B.

Lora, who is visually impaired, got talked into cycling by a close friend in June 2009 as she missed competing in athletics.

She said: “I always missed sport, the competition and the thrill. Starting cycling was the best decision I ever made.”

Six weeks later, she was entered in to the World Para-cycling Road Race in Italy, for experience, and came home with a bronze medal.

She added: “I didn’t know much about cycling and I hadn’t been riding with my sighted partner, Bex Rimmington, long so certainly didn’t expect to achieve, then I went and got a bronze in the road race and I just thought ‘wow, I can do this’.”

Just 12 months later, Lora and Bex competed in the Para-cycling World Cup in Spain. They were victorious in the time trial, and narrowly missed out for gold in the road race.

Lora was born with a hereditary sight-loss condition and has been left with only light perception meaning she relies on her guide dog, a black Labrador called Libby, or a cane to get around.

But losing her sight by the age of five has not affected Lora’s determination, in fact, sport has helped her.

She explained: “There is a big power with sport that makes everything equal,

“It is probably one of the only things where I can show myself for my abilities and not my disability and I like that.”

In her final year Lora was part of the University of Birmingham Sport (UBSport) scholarships scheme, receiving coaching, strength and conditioning (S&C), medical back up, equipment costs and travel contributions.

She said: “Bex and I cycle on a tandem, with her on the front steering and me on the back, but we need to train equally as hard as we both peddle. The scholarship was the full package, I can’t fault it, working with them over this past year has really brought me on.”

She credits her affiliation with UBSport as helping her to an elite level of sport so quickly, but tries not to think about her No1 ranking, ‘

She said: “I’m funny with things like that, when I do well I have a high for about a week then start thinking about the next challenge, but that’s how you succeed in sport, wanting to be better all the time.’

She added: “I hope to medal at London 2012 and be someone who can inspire other disabled people take part in sport as there aren’t enough people out there who do.”

* You can help students like Lora reach their potential by entering The Corporate Relay Challenge on Wednesday, September 22 in Cannon Hill Park.

For more information visit www.sport.bham.ac.uk