Chris Ganley, a former Army veteran, will make his Irish road race debut at the 2026 Cookstown 100. After losing his left arm in a 2014 motorbike accident, Chris became the first disabled rider to race in the British Championship paddock. He began his racing career after his amputation and has since helped other amputees return to the sport. At 17, Chris joined the Army, serving tours in Afghanistan and elsewhere. During his service, he discovered motorcycle racing through the Army Road Racing Team and quickly found his passion for the sport. In 2013, Chris visited the Manx Grand Prix with the Army team, the same year a one-armed rider, Chris Mitchell, made history at the event. Eight months later, Chris was in a serious motorcycle accident, leaving him in a coma for a week. His injuries were extensive: left arm amputation, broken back and ribs, a collapsed lung, nerve damage, and more. Despite these setbacks, he remained determined to adapt and recover. Despite all these injuries, Chris remained in a positive frame of mind, though he admits there were dark days! Chris spent six months adapting his Army race bike, guided by the motto: "Nothing is impossible, you just haven't figured it out yet." His passion for biking motivated him to return to racing, with the Isle of Man TT as his ultimate goal. Chris regained his confidence on an adapted Yamaha R6 at Rockingham, then moved on to his dream bike, a Yamaha YZF R1. Over the next few years, Chris worked to improve his speed and met Paul Stevens at Headley Court, who helped name his race team, ARM1. He named his bike "Shinigami" (Japanese for "Grim Reaper"), reflecting his struggle with dark thoughts, but riding always lifted his spirits. In 2017, Chris married the woman who gave him the time to build himself up and saw him for who he was, and a month later, he made his track debut at Snetterton for the Thundersport GP1 Superbike Cup. Such was his naivety that he didn’t know you could use Friday as a practice day, so qualifying was a bit intimidating for the novice. His friends from the army team were on hand to lend their support and ease his mind. At the end of the race, Ganley had the most amazing the sense of achievement that he had never felt before in his life, BUT, There was more in store, minutes later, Chris was called to attend the race podium, where in his own words, thought, I was feeling a little embarrassed, cos I thought they were calling me up to say ‘well done’ , but No- they were pointing me towards Third place on the Podium!, where he received his trophy, something that now has a special place in his home! Over the next few years, despite being on an older machine, Chris would achieve the following: 2017 - 4th in championship, 2018 - 5th in championship, 2019 - 4th in championship, 2020 - 3rd in championship. Come 2021, and as Chris was preparing for another season, Disaster struck again! His bike and all his gear were at a college when the college was burned following an arson attack! Chris found himself in limbo again, losing his bike, kit, tools, etc., was bad enough; his ‘will to live’ was gone yet again! In times like these, it's always good to talk, and this he did with a friend. During one of their chats, his friend announced. "From the Ashes rises a Phoenix." "Look what happened last time,” his friend says, “you are the type of person who, when it goes wrong, comes back stronger." Whilst another friend piped up and told him to set up a crowd gofundme and see what happens!, Chris told me the response was breathtaking. He actually had to stop it because he didn't want to take more than he needed. Not only that, but people donated kits, tools, and generators. Ganley was blown away by people's generosity. Last year, Chris Ganley made his road race debut at the Gold Cup races at Scarborough, where, despite the wet conditions, took top ten finishes, later at the Barry Sheene Festival, where, again in wet conditions Ganley improved on his previous results at the Mount, qualifying for the feature race, he went on to finish in an amazing 7th place, and set his fastest lap of the two meetings. At the start of the year, Chris set a wee goal, and that was to score a ‘Point’ in the National Road racing series. To score 14 points was like winning a world championship for Chris! I also know I couldn't do this without the support of my family, my friends, and everyone who believes in me. I cannot thank you all enough. i also couldn't do this with all the products and support from the company and people who believe in me, helping my dreams as a disabled racer become more than true In the Tonfanau championship, Chris finished a close second to the championship winner in the final race of the year! in the mean time, since the last race Chris has been extremely stressed behind the scenes, he has been given the opportunity to buy the motorcycle school that he worked for, which has been one of his dreams, He is hoping to get this school working to be able to create a side part which he will build and adapt bikes for people in physical conditions to try biking and if they enjoy it, be able to take them through their license if they want to, to gain the freedom of riding on two wheels, something that has given him the therapy that he needed to get away from the very dark places that he tended to fall into and knowing others do to. Blesma,TB Property Maintenance, Fuchs Silkoline, EBC, Black Widow exhaust, Austin Jacobs Ltd, Clevedon Motorcycles, JCR Motorsport, The Rifles Benevolent Fund, Platform A Ltd, Pete Dixon, AMCC Orange army support, Auto Tech Clevedon.
