Rowe inspiring her children after personal heartbreak

Melanie (left) and Elliot Rowe (right) are following in mother Sarah's cycle tracks Nearly three decades after the moment that ended her cycling career and changed her life forever, every day is a gift for Sarah Rowe. The Scot's story may not be one with which a lot of people are familiar, but it is a powerful tale of happiness, heartbreak and return to happiness that deserves to be told again. In the mid-1990s, Sarah [then Phillips] very much had the cycling world at her feet. Aged 29, she competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, finishing 19th in the women's individual road race and 21st in the individual time trial. "As many athletes will say, the first time is the learning experience, the second time you can actually perform," she suggests. "The next event would have been the Commonwealth Games two years later, two years before the Olympics again, so the aim would have been to do the Commonwealths and plan for the next Olympics." However, there would be no other major championship outing, or any other race for Sarah. Less than a year after hitting the heights in Atlanta, during a training run on her bike near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, she was hit by car "from behind at great speed and smashed up my lower leg". She admits: "I am incredibly lucky to be here, I know that. Somebody was looking down on me that day. "If it had been an inch further over, I wouldn't be here. I honestly don't know how I survived it." Rowe says "deep down, I knew how bad the injury was" as she embarked on a gruelling recovery journey during which she was unable to walk for a year and endured "10 or 12 operations". "It was very difficult," she says. "I was living with my parents at the time because I couldn't do a lot for myself. "My parents were very supportive, I swam in the outdoor pool in Stonehaven every day, I rode on a turbo trainer with a piece of skirting board as a pedal, all sorts of innovations I could. "I just took it in my stride. It was a new challenge ahead and I took each day of physio and each day of learning to walk again - that was my goal." Having gone from the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows, did Rowe believe her cycling career was finished, or did she think she could complete a remarkable comeback by competing once again? "I always hoped I would ride again," she states. "I worked hard to ride again – I rode again, I never raced again. "The Olympics was the last race I ever did. I was never able to get back to training because of the limitations in the movement of the ankle. "I tell people now, 'enjoy it while you are doing it because you never know what is round the corner'. I didn't dwell on it - I just moved on. "Riding my bike outside was everything to me, that was my goal. The racing was the icing on the cake that I never quite got, but riding a bike again was the ultimate goal." Melanie and Elliot Rowe are starting to gather junior cycling medals Now 57, Rowe, who subsequently got involved with cycling coaching, still feels the effects of the injury in terms of her mobility. Keen to accentuate the positive, she says: "I can do things in adapted form and I just thank my lucky stars I am here." While Sarah may have been lost to the sport, in a competitive sense at least, far too early, her two children are showing plenty of signs that they, like their mum, could be heading to the top. Her son, Elliot, 19, has been signed by cycling giants Team Visma Lease a Bike, as part of their development team, and won a bronze medal in June's British under-23 individual time trial. Her daughter, Melanie, 16, recently finished first in the under-17s race in the prestigious Tour of Flanders event. "I have to say my heart is in my mouth every time they go out on the roads, but that is part of life and they just have to get on and enjoy it and be careful and be safe as best they can," Rowe says. "It is lovely seeing what they are doing because I can relate to it. I just love to see them enjoying the journey - it is such a special thing what the bike can give you." Elliot and Melanie were not born when their mum was competing at Olympic level. However, her knowledge and experience is clearly a huge help as they aim to make their own way in the sport, with Elliot suggesting: "My mum is really modest. "She never bigs it up too much, but we get little stories here and there, which is pretty cool, because it is just a reminder that it did happen and it is something that you will always remember and something that me and my sister would both want to work towards in the future." Melanie adds: "I find it really helpful because she always knows exactly how I feel about everything because she has done it before." If both children continue to deliver on their early promise, perhaps their mum will find herself back, as a proud parent, at an Olympic Games some day in the future.