TWO OXFORDSHIRE veterans will compete as part of the UK team at next year’s Invictus Games.

RAF Corporal Firefighter Charlie Dye and Veteran Lynsey Kelly, both from Carterton, Oxfordshire have been selected to represent Team UK at the Invictus Games The Hague 2020.

Charlie and Lynsey joined their teammates for the first time at the Honourable Artillery Company in London yesterday.

Oxford Mail:

The Duke of Sussex attending the launch of Team UK for the Invictus Games The Hague 2020. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The athletes, 89 per cent of whom have never taken part in an Invictus Games before, will now undergo training camps delivered by Help for Heroes to make sure they are best prepared for the international sporting competition next year.

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Charlie, an RAF Corporal Firefighter due to be medically discharged, was subject to a few complications during routine spine surgery which left him barely able to walk.

He found himself confined to his home not wanting to venture outdoors and becoming isolated from friends and family.

After undergoing a further two more surgeries, with the help of his physiotherapist, he was back to walking almost unaided.

He was recommended sport as an outlet, and he registered for Team UK.

Oxford Mail:

Charlie Dye.

Lynsey began experiencing pains in her legs that turned out to be compartment syndrome; over time this developed into pain amplification syndrome, which had a dramatic effect on her sleep and mental health.

She decided to seek help and with the support of family and friends was introduced to Help for Heroes.

She became involved with the Help for Heroes Sport Recovery programme and competed at last year’s Warrior Games in the US Air Force Academy in Colorado.

The former RAF Senior Aircraftsman, said: “I’m self-assured in the belief that this will give me the motivation to alter my career path, strongly develop me personally, give me the confidence to move away from the MOD and do something I actually enjoy. My life has re-started at 35!”

Oxford Mail:

Lynsey Kelly.

More than 350 military personnel and veterans trialled nine sports for one of the 65 places available on Team UK.

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The team will compete in nine sports: Athletics; Archery; Wheelchair Basketball; Cycling; Powerlifting; Indoor Rowing; Wheelchair Rugby; Swimming and Sitting Volleyball.

Hannah Lawton, of Help for Heroes and Chef de Mission for Team UK, said: “The 65 men and women selected to represent Team UK will not only gain a personal recovery benefit from taking part in the Games but they will hopefully inspire others suffering with life-changing injuries or illnesses that anything is possible.”