A HAMPTON HILL sportsman has overcome a devastating injury to tackle the challenge of a lifetime.

Charlie Lewis, 25, had a promising rugby career ahead of him, having played for Richmond since he was five, for Hampton School and at county level.

But his dream was shattered when a snowboarding accident in Switzerland during his gap year meant he nearly lost a leg.His mother, Ginny, said: "It was a nasty accident and he spent three years with his leg in a metal frame.

"He fell 500ft and had to be helicoptered off the mountain. It became infected. He had metal implants put in - you name it, it happened to him. We waited two years for the bone to grow back and it just didn't.

"It was so bad that at one point the surgeon said to him: 'If I were you, I'd just cut it off and get on with your life'."

Despite having three inches of metal inserted into the bottom of his leg, the business manager kept active, and took up cycling instead, because this does not put as much pressure on his leg. This week he has managed to combine his two sporting passions by cycling from rugby ground to rugby ground as part of the Dallaglio Cycle Slam with his hero, former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio.

Dallaglio and celebrity friends are cycling to all of the Six Nations international rugby union stadiums.

The World Cup winner started last week in Rome, just before the Italy vs England international there, and will complete his 2,800km, 24-day trek on March 13.

The challenge is split into five stages. Cyclists will join Dallaglio and friends along the way to complete a stretch.

Mr Lewis joined the group in France on Wednesday for stage two, which is expected to take four or five days to cover the 700km from Nice to Paris.

He wants to raise £4,000 for five charities - DebRA, Cancer Research UK, Help For Heroes, The RPA Benevolent Fund and Leukaemia Research.

His mother said the family is very proud of him.

"It's good he has found an outlet for all this energy," she said. "It's going to be a real challenge, especially in this weather - during the first stage [the party] had to cycle through thick snow - but it's going to be a real achievement. We're very, very proud of him."

* To find out more about the Dallaglio Cycle Slam, and to sponsor Mr Lewis, visit www.justgiving.com/Charlie-Lewis