Where does my story begin?
In June 2018 I was competing alongside my father – Tony Baker in the Isle of Man TT Sidecar race 1, when we had a mechanical failure at 130mph on the opening lap, where I’m lead to believe we were already up to 5th place on corrected time.
Dad suffered a complicated broken femur and was airlifted to the Walton Centre. I suffered a broken neck, suspected broken elbow / dislocated shoulder, grade 3 sprained ankle and I had torn the nerves off my spine which operated my right arm, as well as suffered some brain injuries. I was also flown to Aintree for surgery. I started the race in the Isle of Man, but woke up two weeks later not knowing we’d had an accident, in hospital at the Walton Centre!
Following a month at the Walton Centre and over a year and a half recovering, it took a further 10 months to be able to return to work and find out what and how much I was capable of doing again.
Before the accident, dad and I had been F2 Eurocup champions in 2006 in only my 4th year of racing, we’d finished 6th in the British F2 championships for a couple of years, we’d come 2nd in class at the sidecar world championships in 2017 and I was the fastest woman in history on a sidecar around the TT course up-until the accident and I just wanted to race again.

So what?
Unfortunately, because my injuries meant I couldn’t race again, I needed to do something else, so once I’d learned to run again, (amongst many other basic actions) and because I was so grateful at being given a second chance in life, I decided I wanted to run to raise money for different charities, as my way of saying thank you to some of them for their support of me during my recovery.
To-date, over the last 3 years, I have run for 6 different charities, ranging from 13.1 mile runs to running 1000 miles in 10 months.

What’s the next chapter in my story?
I don’t like to do things by halves and even while I lay in my hospital bed at the Walton Centre, I was already planning how to repay my gratitude to the hospital. I just knew it might take a little time before I could do it! So the biggest challenge I have set myself is to now try and raise money for the Sid Watkins Innovation Fund at the Walton Centre, so that it can be used to help purchase much needed technology to help patients during their stay.

To do this, I have chosen to complete the following:

• Donate some of the proceeds of the sale of the book I wrote and published, charting my recovery
  following the accident
• Hold a charity night with motorcycle stars, auction and raffle
• Complete a 1000 mile running challenge over 12 months
• Complete a self-funded, 15 day trek to Everest Base Camp in November 2023 with my husband – John
  Holden (who is also a two-times Isle Of Man TT winner himself)

How can you help?
You can follow the progress of these different events and how my fundraising is going, here on my charity page and also via Twitter - or Instagram.
If you’d like to sponsor me, please share my fundraising page amongst your friends, family and colleagues.

If you’d like to buy my book, please email me at [email protected]
Thank you!


About The Walton Centre:
The Walton Centre in Liverpool offers a world class neuroscience service which includes many pioneering techniques, cutting edge treatments; and clinicians who are international leaders in their field. Over 100,000 patients are treated at the hospital each year with conditions ranging from head and spinal trauma injuries; brain and spine tumours; Epilipsy, MS, Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson.

The Charity funds a variety of projects in the hospital including research, innovation, new technology and patient & family facilities.

Fiona Baker-Holden