Chapple vows to bounce back

“IT WAS full on – I don’t remember the fall – but it was pretty strange waking up with all the pain.”

That was how the 17-year-old Tamworth reinswoman Elly Chapple summed up how she felt after being involved in a horrific race fall at Inverell last weekend.

Chapple, driving the number two horse was checked when the horse to her inside blundered and fell, with the result of Chapple being tipped from her gig.

“I remember turning into the back straight and getting a run up to the barrier with my horse as I wanted to cross the field,” Chapple said.

That is all Chapple remembers of the Inverell Cup after being tipped out, landing on the track before being run over by the following horses off the back row.

Chapple has no recollection of the fall after being knocked unconscious.

“The first person I saw was Mum standing over the top of me,” Chapple said.

“The track attendants – Jeff Enks and Paul Harper – were the first to get to me and they were talking to me but I don’t remember.

“I couldn’t move although I do remember being lifted into the ambulance.

“I thought I had done a collarbone and broken my arm and the ambulance guys put a neck brace on me – they prepare you for the worst.

“I feel blessed to come out of it with just a broken elbow, although I have plenty of bruising and some skin off me.”

Chapple was two weeks shy of celebrating her first year as a reinswoman after opening her account at the Narrabri Easter harness meeting last year.

“I enjoy the sport and it was always something I was going to do – I love competing and driving every week,” Chapple said.

“Dad (Dean) was in the same race at Inverell and he was a bit shocked that I was still on the track when he came back around.

Both Sarah Rushbrook and Chapple were conveyed to the Lismore Hospital via the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

“I am so pleased that Sarah and I were in the chopper together, I was so worried,” Chapple said.

“She said she remembers everything but I think it will be better for me that I don’t remember.

“I knew I was bound to have a race fall one day but didn’t realise how quickly it would happen – it was like I was going up to the gate and then I was on the track.”

In her short career Chapple has driven three winners and numerous placings.

“I think it will take me a while to get back to driving,” Chapple said.

“I’m keen but I just have to get my strength back.”

It has been a huge few days for Chapple and her family with being transferred back to Tamworth Hospital on Tuesday from Lismore, operated on Wednesday morning and back home on Thursday.

“I will have a slab on my elbow for two weeks and then they will put a fibreglass cast on for eight weeks,” Chapple said.

“Everyone has been so supportive – the number of messages from different states, and Lauren and Shane Tritton from Canada, it has been overwhelming but it is nice to have everyone’s support.”

For her parents Dean and Julie Chapple, it was a mercy dash to link up with Chapple in Lismore with her 13-year-old brother Jack at home watching vision of the fall.

“Jack was at home but he kept it all together for us – feeding the horses at home and looking after them,” Chapple said.

“He was the Foreman while Dad was away with me.

“And Mum (Julie) held it together for all of us – she was great.”

For Chapple, a Year 12 student at Oxley High School, the next challenge will be the HSC.

“I have the HSC and I am left-handed – that is the elbow that is broken,” Chapple said.

Rushbrook and Chapple are both expected to be off the track for several months but with harness racing blood still coursing their veins, there’s no doubt they will be back.