Latest news with #JimClark
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Thousands of women suffering agonising fractures... because medics think they are 'too young' to have osteoporosis
When Michelle Clark tripped on a concrete step in November 2018 she put it down to clumsiness. But within hours, the mother-of-two was in excruciating pain and practically immobile. Hospital scans revealed Michelle, then 56, had fractured her right kneecap. Doctors applied a cast and told her to rest, expecting it to heal after eight weeks. It wasn't until almost a year later, however, when she broke her right hand while out walking her dog, that the true cause of her repeated injuries came to light. She was diagnosed with osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease that affects 3.5million Britons and causes bones to become fragile and break more easily – and affects women much more than men. However, the diagnosis didn't come from the clinicians who treated her hand. Instead, it was Michelle's children who urged her to push for a DEXA scan – a specialist bone-density test that diagnoses osteoporosis – after seeing how quickly she'd suffered a second fracture Without their intervention, Michelle, who lives with husband Jim, 68, a retired businessman, in Warwickshire, believes she could have gone undiagnosed for years – or until her next, potentially life-threatening, break. Now 62, she says she is still baffled that no medic diagnosed her sooner – even as one doctor joked she had managed to fracture a 'really difficult bone to break'. Michelle is one of tens of thousands of women in mid-life – and younger – who have endured broken bones, and years of pain and frustration, before receiving a diagnosis and treatment. The NHS recommends any adult over 50 who suffers a 'fragility' fracture – a break from a fall at standing height or less – should be assessed for osteoporosis, yet this frequently does not happen. A 2021 report by the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) found many women in their 50s and early 60s are dismissed or misdiagnosed. And the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Osteoporosis and Bone Health reported in 2023 that tens of thousands of women are missing out on timely diagnosis and treatment. One major reason cited was age bias. Clinicians often overlook osteoporosis in younger, postmenopausal women despite it being the most likely cause for fragility fractures. Michelle is speaking out as part of The Mail on Sunday's War On Osteoporosis campaign. We are calling on the Government to ensure every part of the UK is served by a specialist clinic, known as a fracture liaison service (FLS), to screen patients for the condition after a break. While FLS units are in place across every hospital in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, only around half of hospitals in England offer this vital service. Last year Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed that one of his first acts in government would be to task the NHS with a 'rollout plan' for nationwide access to FLS units. Only in February did he say it would be implemented by 2030. Experts warn every month of inaction on fair access to an FLS puts more lives needlessly at risk. Broken bones are the fourth leading cause of disability and premature death in the UK and the second biggest cause of adult hospital admissions. Hip fractures, often caused by untreated osteoporosis, claim the lives of an estimated 2,500 Britons every year – deaths that campaigners insist are largely preventable. The condition affects men, too, but eight out of ten patients are women as a result of hormonal changes that occur during the menopause altering bone density. 'My diagnosis was a blur,' recalls Michelle. 'I knew absolutely nothing about osteoporosis and I was absolutely gobsmacked. I'm a keen walker and gym goer – suddenly I felt vulnerable and old. 'But what shocked me more was my DEXA scan showed I'd also unknowingly fractured my spine.' At 54, two years before her kneecap injury, Michelle slipped on her stairs, landing on her back. 'That fall must have been to blame for the spine fractures,' she says. 'I was in agony, but after a few days I just carried on as normal, took painkillers and learned to live with it. 'My osteoporosis was missed repeatedly. If there had been a local FLS maybe it could have been picked up before I broke another bone.' When signs of the condition are spotted in FLS, patients are given bone-preserving drugs that more than halve the risk of breaks. Experts say the FLS 'postcode lottery' is putting people at risk. In March, analysis by this newspaper found nine of the ten areas with the highest rates of over-65s with hip fractures do not have an FLS in their hospitals. 'Patients are being let down, it's completely unfair,' says Emma Clark, a professor of clinical musculoskeletal epidemiology at the University of Bristol. 'They deserve consistency – their postcode shouldn't determine the treatment they get. Patients will slip through the cracks. 'The clinics are not just about ensuring they get bone-strengthening medicines. They also give tailored diet and lifestyle support.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
60 years on from his stunning Indy 500 triumph, how Jim Clark became the fastest farmer in the land
The roars of the crowd have long faded, the whine of engines and the screech of brakes have dissipated into the air. The glory days have come and gone with a speed that blurs vision, compromises rational thought. But the life and work of Jim Clark resounds down the ages, safeguarded and preserved by those who knew and loved him. There is much myth and legend to the life of the great Scot. There is also irrefutable fact. The clock has sped on but Clark remains one of the greatest drivers ever. There is much evidence to support this contention but an examination of the year of 1965 would be more than ample evidence. Sixty years ago on this day, Clark, the farmer from Chirnside, won the Indianapolis 500, breaking a North American stranglehold on the race. He also won the Tasman Series, held in Australia and New Zealand, with a Lotus 32B. As an encore, he won six consecutive races in Formula 1, becoming world champion for the second time. He also was also named a Freeman of Duns, an award which would have given him profound joy. 'Jim knew himself as a farmer,' says Doug Niven, his cousin. 'His gravestone read Jim Clark OBE. The first line is 'Farmer', the second line is 'world racing champion'. He was so unassuming. He had no airs and graces. 'The week after Monza, his first world championship in 1963, he was selling sheep at local sales in Kelso.' The anniversary of the Indy 500 triumph demands recognition and the Jim Clark Trust has helped to deliver it. On June 28/29, 14 of the great man's cars will be at an event at Duns Castle as fans, friends, former mechanics and colleagues gather for a weekend of celebration. Niven's memories of that day of the Indy 500 triumph are sharp. Now 79 and a family trustee of the JCT, he recalls life as a teenager in the Border farmlands. 'I am his first cousin. Jim's mother and my father were brother and sister. I lived in Jim's house when he was away racing,' he says. 'Our farm was seven miles from his and when he was away — and increasingly he was away a lot — his mother and father asked me to live in the house to keep an eye on it. 'I was a schoolboy when he started racing,' says Niven, who went on to become a fine racing driver as well as a successful farmer. 'When he came home, Jim wasn't that interested in talking about cars. He wanted to talk about the farm.' Niven recalls May 31, 1965. The world of television was restricted, primitive by today's standards. 'I went with Jim's parents to the Odeon Cinema in Edinburgh and watched the race in the middle of the night. It was all in a grainy black and white.' The flickering images conveyed a substantial victory. Clark, driving a rear-engined Lotus 38, led 190 laps at an average speed of just more than 150mph. History had been made. Clark was to add another chapter that same season, becoming the first and only driver to win the Formula 1 Championship and the Indy 500 in the same season. Within three years, he was dead. On April 7, 1968, his car somersaulted into a wood at Hockenheim during a Formula 2 race. Jim Clark, racing champion and mixed arable farmer, did not survive. He was 32. His legacy lives on. The Jim Clark Trust is dedicated to promoting and celebrating his story. There is a museum in Duns and it is hoped that events such as the one at the castle at the end of June will help raise funds to expand it. There are more cars to be housed, more memorabilia to be displayed. The Clark story encompasses 25 individual grand prix victories and success in touring cars and rallying. But today all roads lead back to Indiana in 1965. The voice is strong, The champion is vibrant. Mario Andretti, now 85, won the F1 championship in 1978, also with Lotus, and the Indy 500 in 1968. He was named rookie of the year after finishing behind Clark in the Indy 500 of 1965. In a message recorded for the events at Duns Castle, the American says: 'It's amazing 60 years on we are still celebrating the legacy of Jim Clark. Going back to 1965. I have something very, very special to tell you because it had so much meaning to a young rookie.' The racer remembers being enthralled by the very presence of Clark. 'He was my senior, already well accomplished. I took the opportunity to get to meet him and to pick his brain as much as possible about Formula 1.' After the race, where Andretti finished third, he talked to the Scot at the victory banquet. 'As we were saying our goodbyes, Jim and Colin Chapman were standing there and I said: 'Colin, one day I would like to do Formula 1. 'I looked at Jim and he gave me a nod. Colin looked at me and said: 'Mario, when you think you are ready, I will have a car for you'.' Andretti later collaborated with Chapman and Lotus for spectacular F1 success. Chapman, the design and engineering genius who founded Lotus in 1952, was central to Clark's success, particularly at the Indy 500. 'They had to build a car specific to that track,' explains Stuart McFarlane, broadcaster, sports historian and a volunteer at the Jim Clark Trust. 'It took a maverick like Colin to come up with such a car.' It took a driver such as Clark to win the race. McFarlane paints the scene of 60 years ago. 'It's the famous Brickyard track, more than 100,000 spectators. The noise, the colour. Thirty three gladiators taking to the track when the sport was as dangerous as any. 'Clark had been there two years earlier when he finished second to Parnelli Jones of the USA.' There had been flags when Jones had suffered oil leaks and many wondered if the same dispensation would have been granted to Clark if the circumstances had been reversed. Clark though was invincible in 1965. ABC Sports, who broadcast extended coverage of the 500 for the first time, named the Scot as sportsman of the year. McFarlane believes that Indianapolis showed Clark at his peerless best. 'He was a clean driver,' he says. Clark never made aggressive demands of the car, preferring to guide it around the track with an unnatural ease. 'There were two sides to him. He was a farmer, happy to be back home, quiet and unassuming. But on the track he was fully focused. He was able to make decisions quickly and to execute them flawlessly. 'Jackie Stewart always says that it took Jim hours to decide what film to go to see. By the time he had plumped for one, the film was over. He was entirely different in a car.' The great Scot sits at the top table of sporting greatness. The world will descend on Duns to pay tribute. As his cousin, Doug Niven, says: 'It may be one of the last chances of some of his contemporaries to see the cars and hear and tell the stories. We are all getting on,' he says. But the legend attracts new adherents down the years. They will be present at the event that has been sponsored by Lotus and the Colin Chapman Foundation. One man, of course, will be missing. But his presence will be felt. Jim Clark would have been 89. He endures in memory and in black and white footage. Clark died during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in 1968 but his legend endures It is appropriate to give him the last word. One day after that famous victory, he told an interviewer that the Indy 500 triumph had given him substantial satisfaction because it had been 'a greater challenge' than Formula 1. 'I think that's because I am the outsider breaking in, I feel the underdog,' he says with the gentlest of smiles. The farmer from Chirnside had conquered the New World. It is a story for the ages. For further information, go to
Pembrokeshire Herald
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Simultaneous rescues for Tenby lifeboats after paddleboarders blown out to sea
Dai Roberts, 39, was killed during Saturday's race near Duns in the Scottish Borders A CO-DRIVER from Carmarthen has tragically died following a crash during the Jim Clark rally in Scotland. Dai Roberts, aged 39, was pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday (May 24) after the vehicle he was in left the road during a stage near Duns in the Scottish Borders. The driver, 27-year-old James Williams, was seriously injured and taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. His injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening. Roberts was an experienced figure in the world of rallying. In 2014, he survived a crash during the Ulster Rally in Belfast which claimed the life of his then-driver, Timothy Cathcart, who was 20. Two years earlier, his younger brother Gareth, also a rally co-driver, was killed in an accident during a race in Palermo, Italy. He was 24. This weekend's Jim Clark rally and Sunday's Reivers rally were both cancelled following the incident. The event, named after the late Formula One world champion Jim Clark, is a popular annual fixture that draws competitors from across the UK. Around 260 participants were due to take part over the weekend. A statement from the event organisers, the Jim Clark Memorial Motor Club, confirmed the fatal incident and said support was being provided to those affected. James Williams Rallying also issued a heartfelt tribute: 'It is with a heavy heart we have to share this sad news. The motorsport community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our beloved Dai Roberts. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Roberts family at this difficult time.' Superintendent Vincent Fisher of Police Scotland said: 'Our thoughts are with the family of the man who has died and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.' Motorsport UK, the governing body for the sport, said it had launched a full investigation and would work closely with organisers and relevant authorities. The Jim Clark rally has a long history but has also been marred by tragedy in the past. In 2014, three spectators were killed and six others injured when two cars veered off the course. The event was suspended and only resumed five years later, in 2019, following significant safety reforms. The rally forms part of several championships, including the Probite British Rally Championship, the Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship, and the Protyre National Asphalt Championship.
Pembrokeshire Herald
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Welsh music venues set to benefit from £500k capital fund
Dai Roberts, 39, was killed during Saturday's race near Duns in the Scottish Borders A CO-DRIVER from Carmarthen has tragically died following a crash during the Jim Clark rally in Scotland. Dai Roberts, aged 39, was pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday (May 24) after the vehicle he was in left the road during a stage near Duns in the Scottish Borders. The driver, 27-year-old James Williams, was seriously injured and taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. His injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening. Roberts was an experienced figure in the world of rallying. In 2014, he survived a crash during the Ulster Rally in Belfast which claimed the life of his then-driver, Timothy Cathcart, who was 20. Two years earlier, his younger brother Gareth, also a rally co-driver, was killed in an accident during a race in Palermo, Italy. He was 24. This weekend's Jim Clark rally and Sunday's Reivers rally were both cancelled following the incident. The event, named after the late Formula One world champion Jim Clark, is a popular annual fixture that draws competitors from across the UK. Around 260 participants were due to take part over the weekend. A statement from the event organisers, the Jim Clark Memorial Motor Club, confirmed the fatal incident and said support was being provided to those affected. James Williams Rallying also issued a heartfelt tribute: 'It is with a heavy heart we have to share this sad news. The motorsport community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our beloved Dai Roberts. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Roberts family at this difficult time.' Superintendent Vincent Fisher of Police Scotland said: 'Our thoughts are with the family of the man who has died and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.' Motorsport UK, the governing body for the sport, said it had launched a full investigation and would work closely with organisers and relevant authorities. The Jim Clark rally has a long history but has also been marred by tragedy in the past. In 2014, three spectators were killed and six others injured when two cars veered off the course. The event was suspended and only resumed five years later, in 2019, following significant safety reforms. The rally forms part of several championships, including the Probite British Rally Championship, the Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship, and the Protyre National Asphalt Championship.
Pembrokeshire Herald
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Carmarthen co-driver dies in Jim Clark rally crash
Dai Roberts, 39, was killed during Saturday's race near Duns in the Scottish Borders A CO-DRIVER from Carmarthen has tragically died following a crash during the Jim Clark rally in Scotland. Dai Roberts, aged 39, was pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday (May 24) after the vehicle he was in left the road during a stage near Duns in the Scottish Borders. The driver, 27-year-old James Williams, was seriously injured and taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. His injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening. Roberts was an experienced figure in the world of rallying. In 2014, he survived a crash during the Ulster Rally in Belfast which claimed the life of his then-driver, Timothy Cathcart, who was 20. Two years earlier, his younger brother Gareth, also a rally co-driver, was killed in an accident during a race in Palermo, Italy. He was 24. This weekend's Jim Clark rally and Sunday's Reivers rally were both cancelled following the incident. The event, named after the late Formula One world champion Jim Clark, is a popular annual fixture that draws competitors from across the UK. Around 260 participants were due to take part over the weekend. A statement from the event organisers, the Jim Clark Memorial Motor Club, confirmed the fatal incident and said support was being provided to those affected. James Williams Rallying also issued a heartfelt tribute: 'It is with a heavy heart we have to share this sad news. The motorsport community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our beloved Dai Roberts. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Roberts family at this difficult time.' Superintendent Vincent Fisher of Police Scotland said: 'Our thoughts are with the family of the man who has died and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.' Motorsport UK, the governing body for the sport, said it had launched a full investigation and would work closely with organisers and relevant authorities. The Jim Clark rally has a long history but has also been marred by tragedy in the past. In 2014, three spectators were killed and six others injured when two cars veered off the course. The event was suspended and only resumed five years later, in 2019, following significant safety reforms. The rally forms part of several championships, including the Probite British Rally Championship, the Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship, and the Protyre National Asphalt Championship.
