{"id":17237,"date":"2026-04-19T16:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/17237\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:14:18","slug":"britains-most-successful-superbike-rider-shane-shakey-byrne-from-sheppey-takes-on-london-marathon-for-spinal-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/17237\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s most successful Superbike rider Shane \u2018Shakey\u2019 Byrne, from Sheppey, takes on London Marathon for Spinal Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Britain\u2019s most successful Superbike rider is taking on the London Marathon eight years after suffering life-changing injuries in a career-ending crash.<\/p>\n

Shane \u201cShakey\u201d Bryne, a former Sittingbourne<\/a> schoolboy from Sheppey<\/a>, was at the peak of his career and reigning British champion when he came off his bike at Snetterton in Norfolk in May 2018.<\/p>\n

\"Former\"FormerFormer Sittingbourne schoolboy Shane \u201cShakey\u201d Byrne suffered life-changing injuries after a career-ending crash<\/p>\n

The record-breaking rider, who holds an unprecedented six British Superbike Championship titles, was on a test run of the circuit – for which he holds the track record – riding a Ducati superbike when he slammed into the tyre wall barrier.<\/p>\n

He sustained multiple fractures and internal injuries, which left him temporarily paralysed.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the horror crash in July 2018, the father of two told KentOnline<\/a>: \u201cWhen I woke up from the op and realised I wasn\u2019t paralysed, I was so relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to win a High Court case after a judge found Motorsport Vision Racing, Motorsport Vision \u2013 which owns the track \u2013 and the Motorcycle Circuit Racing Control Board were liable for his injuries in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and the former pupil of St John\u2019s High School for Boys in Sittingbourne is training to run the London Marathon in aid of Spinal Research.<\/p>\n

\"Britain's\"Britain'sBritain’s most successful superbike rider, Shane \u201cShakey\u201d Byrne, is running the London Marathon to raise money for Spinal Research<\/p>\n

The charity is the UK\u2019s leading fundraiser for research into function-restoring treatments for people paralysed after a spinal cord injury.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old said: \u201cOne minute you\u2019re on the podium, the next you\u2019re learning how to get dressed and put your socks on, with what looks like a telephone mast screwed to your head, which is holding your neck and spine together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think back to where I was after the accident, there were some pretty dark times.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, just being here and being able to put one foot in front of the other is a blessing I don\u2019t take for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI basically broke the whole of my upper body in the crash \u2013 my back, neck, ribs, chest, collar bone \u2013 and it\u2019s a miracle I wasn\u2019t killed or paralysed.<\/p>\n

\"Shane\"ShaneShane \u201cShakey\u201d Byrne, from Sheppey, is Britain’s most successful Superbike rider<\/p>\n

\u201cBits are still broken but I\u2019ve kept my head down, tried to stay humble and kept myself in the best shape possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physical recovery was one thing, but the mental side – the fear, the frustration, the uncertainty – was every bit as tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurning 50 last December made me realise it was time to do something that mattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to test myself again, but more importantly, I want to help others who haven\u2019t been as lucky as me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shane, who was also a World Superbike race winner and former MotoGP rider, is now a TV pundit for the sport he loves and runs a sports management company looking after young champions in the making.<\/p>\n

\"Shane\"ShaneShane \u201cShakey\u201d Byrne with his autobiography – Unshakeable – published in 2020<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cEveryone thinks I\u2019m mad. The training has been really tough, but if me running this marathon gives even one person hope, or helps fund research that means someone else doesn\u2019t have to face a lifetime of paralysis, then every mile will be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on his online fundraiser, he said: \u201cI\u2019m determined to teach my two amazing children to never give up, no matter how tough things are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to always make them proud. This one is for you, Zack and Lilly.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support Shakey go to his JustGiving Page by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Every two hours someone in the UK is paralysed after a spinal cord injury.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Redding, head of audience and community for Spinal Research, said: \u201cThe first function restoring treatments in history are now available and more breakthrough therapies are coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we urgently need funds to get these to the people who need them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019re incredibly grateful to Shane for joining Team Spinal at this year\u2019s London Marathon, particularly knowing how much he has overcome following his own serious injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery pound raised takes us a step closer to our goal of curing paralysis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s most successful Superbike rider is taking on the London Marathon eight years after suffering life-changing injuries in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,773,2298,529,3863,309,1071],"class_list":["post-17237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-britain","tag-celebrities","tag-charity","tag-human-interest","tag-isle-of-sheppey","tag-kent","tag-sittingbourne"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116432264622965286","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}