{"id":374080,"date":"2024-03-08T19:35:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T20:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=374080"},"modified":"2024-03-08T22:04:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T22:04:32","slug":"a-backyard-fire-derailed-maddis-life-now-she-owns-a-race-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=374080","title":{"rendered":"A backyard fire derailed Maddi's life. Now she owns a race team"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: The contents of this story contain graphic details and images.<\/strong><\/em>\ufeff<\/p>\n

Maddi Patterson has two birthdays. Her date of birth, February 11, 1996, and then the day her life changed, November 19, 2020.<\/p>\n

Before the world shut down through the pandemic, she was working in sales and marketing during the week, and on weekends as a "Brolly Dolly" with the World Superbike Championship.<\/p>\n

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Brolly Dolly is a term she coined while working as a grid girl. In motorcycle racing, models literally hold umbrellas over the bike and rider while on the grid before a race.<\/p>\n

The pandemic brought her back to Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

She and some friends were sharing a house in Adelaide when an accident involving a fire pit left her with burns to 60 per cent of her body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While pain is often difficult to measure and will vary from person to person, the consensus among experts is being on fire is one of the most painful experiences a human can endure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it's not just while on fire, either. Patterson was in excruciating pain for the duration of her stay in hospital as doctors used a new technique in her treatment.<\/p>\n

Her career in the motorsport industry was to that point just beginning. While lying in hospital, she thought for all money this accident had ended it.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Bah6x1VBKUI\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

But as she endured skin grafts, learned to walk again and dealt with the incredible itchiness that comes with the development of scar tissue, she vowed she wouldn't let it get in her way.<\/p>\n

Having grown up in south-west Sydney, she uprooted her life in 2022 and moved to Europe full-time to chase the motorsport dream once more.<\/p>\n

And when the inaugural FIM Women's Motorcycling World Championship begins in June, Patterson will be there \u2013 but not as a Brolly Dolly.<\/p>\n

She'll be a team owner.<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

Her second birthday<\/h3>\n

Patterson recalled to Wide World of Sports the night her life changed. It was Thursday, November 19, 2020.<\/p>\n

She and her friends decided to enjoy a cool-ish Adelaide evening sitting around the fire pit in the house they were sharing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the pit, which was fuelled by methylated spirits rather than wood, was faulty. The moment her friend touched the ignition switch, a fireball erupted right where Patterson was standing.<\/p>\n

She was immediately engulfed. Thankfully, the house had a pool she could jump into.<\/p>\n

She was literally on fire for about 15 seconds. She was rushed to hospital and heavily sedated. Border restrictions at the time meant no family could come and see her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CLBviEihCPE\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

Patterson had suffered burns to more than 60 per cent of her body. They stretched up her neck, down her arms, across her chest and stomach and down her legs.<\/p>\n

Doctors used a relatively new burns treatment called Biodegradable Temporising Matrix (BTM). Patterson explained doctors applied a mix of silicone and biodegradable foam to the area to keep the wound open. It was held in place with hundreds of staples.<\/p>\n

This technique allows the blood vessels that were severely damaged in the fire to regrow on their own, which will provide a strong blood source and increase the chances of successful skin grafts.<\/p>\n

The trade-off was all her burns were open and weeping, and required daily washing and dressing changes \u2013 a horrific experience on their own.<\/p>\n

It was worth it. All of her skin grafts \u2013 which were taken from her back \u2013 attached successfully, and there was no infection.<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

Without using this technique, Patterson could have been lying motionless in hospital for months, with no guarantee grafts would work.<\/p>\n

"None of my skin grafts failed \u2013 within I think three or four days of actually receiving my skin grafts, the skin had attached," she said.<\/p>\n

"Yes, it was bright red and very fragile, but it was attached.<\/p>\n

"You know when you have a little graze on your knee and it scabs up? It was like that around the edges."<\/p>\n

Another benefit of BTM is she was able to begin her rehabilitation significantly earlier than she might otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

"I started to walk 19 days after my accident. In immense pain I might add \u2013 it was horrendous."<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, those same friends had remained in Adelaide and visited her daily. Her sister was eventually able to travel from Queensland to help as well.<\/p>\n

"They're saints. They're godsends. They didn't have to do all that. They didn't have to stay with me, they didn't have to come and see me every day.<\/p>\n

"But they did, and to some degree they were in pain too. We're now each other's biggest fans and supporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It was just an accident \u2013 that's the reality of it. It's no-one's fault."<\/p>\n

Patterson was discharged from hospital only 11 weeks after her accident on the 11th of February 2021 \u2013 her 25th birthday.\u00a0\ufeff<\/p>\n

She was able to fly straight back to Sydney to continue her rehab surrounded by family. Rehab required three trips a week to the hospital, but it was better than being trapped inside one.<\/p>\n

She spent the next 12 months wearing a compression suit full-time.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

Taking the plunge<\/h3>\n

Patterson started working as a Brolly Dolly in her early 20s in Australian Superbikes with brands including Kawasaki and Honda before getting a chance overseas.<\/p>\n

While that was keeping her weekends busy, she had also started a business selling motorcycle wear in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also started running the social media channels of several teams, which after her accident, led in a roundabout way to her getting a break as a journalist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having enjoyed what were effectively lengthy working holidays to work in the sport before the pandemic, Patterson moved to Europe permanently in June 2022.<\/p>\n

She was working as a freelance journalist covering MotoGP when last October she attended a press conference held by Dorna – the commercial rights holder for MotoGP and World Superbike – to announce plans for the new Women's World Championship.<\/p>\n

The championship would be a spec series running identical Yamaha bikes, run over six rounds in Europe with the World Superbikes Championship.<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

Only a couple of weeks before that press conference, Patterson had met a friend for coffee and discussed one day starting her own racing team. They even had a name picked out \u2013 Sekhmet.<\/p>\n

In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet is the daughter of the sun god, Ra. She breathes fire. It was appropriate.<\/p>\n

While the seed was planted during that coffee catch-up, Patterson assumed it wouldn't sprout until years down the track.<\/p>\n

But as she listened to the details of this new series from Dorna bosses, she realised the time was coming much sooner than she anticipated.<\/p>\n

"I walked out of the press conference, into the press room and I said to the journalist sitting in front of me 'f–k it, I'm gonna do it'," she said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CeJmCoJNCOJ\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

"I think my friends in the media know me well enough to know if I say something with conviction, you best believe it's going to happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I don't believe in luck per se. I think opportunities are always there and you have to be open and perceptive to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I could have just gone and done a road-racing team, I could have done a national team, but this made so much more sense to me<\/p>\n

"It's permanent, it's the opportunity to create jobs in marketing and media, for skilled engineers and mechanics, and for skilled female athletes people are inherently sceptical about.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I didn't have a choice \u2013 it forced my hand and I'm so glad it did because timing is\u00a0 everything."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cy8SiYItyAt\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

Patterson filed her copy and quite literally immediately started working the phones. She admitted she had no idea how she was going to pull it off.<\/p>\n

She was introduced to her now-business partner Denis Baddeley, who has significant experience in marketing and sponsorships within motorcycle racing.<\/p>\n

Patterson explained competing alongside the World Superbikes meant the category would be a part of the world television broadcast, and beamed into homes around the world, which is attractive to sponsors.<\/p>\n

The entry fee was also relatively cheap \u2013 only \u20ac25,000 per bike (just over AU$41,000). The entry into some other categories is several times that.<\/p>\n

An EOI was submitted, which kicked off months of back and forth as the FIM sorted through the entries. While several EOIs were for only one bike, Patterson wanted two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Sekhmet Motorcycle Racing Team entries were eventually accepted to compete as part of the inaugural 24-rider grid.<\/p>\n

Her two riders are American Mallory Dobbs and Brit Alyssia Whitmore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mallory<\/p>\n

Patterson isn't the only Aussie involved though. Victorian Tayla Relph will compete in a team put together with her dad.<\/p>\n

While they are both brand new teams formed for this championship, many of their rivals are established teams with long histories in motorcycle racing. There's even a factory Yamaha entry.<\/p>\n

Spaniard Ana Carrasco, who by winning the 2018 Supersport 300 World Championship became the first woman to ever win a motorcycle road racing world championship, will also be on the grid.<\/p>\n

\"Alyssia<\/p>\n

Walk before you can run<\/h3>\n

The tales of women competing at the top of world motorsport are few and far between.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only a handful of women have ever won world championships in any kind of motorsport. Carrasco is one exception.<\/p>\n

Aussie Molly Taylor is another \u2013 she won the inaugural all-electric off-road Extreme E championship with co-driver Johan Kristoffersson in 2021.<\/p>\n

Only one woman has ever scored points in an F1 race \u2013 Lella Lombardi when she finished sixth in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 1976 Austrian Grand Prix was Lombardi's final grand prix start, and to-date is the last time a woman actually started an F1 grand prix.<\/p>\n

It's been more than 30 years since a woman entered a race \u2013 Italian Giovanna Amati entered the first three events of the 1992 season with the Brabham team but failed to qualify.<\/p>\n

\"Lella<\/p>\n

It's even bleaker on the two-wheel side.<\/p>\n

Only one woman \u2013 Gina Bovaird at the 1982 French Grand Prix \u2013 has ever started a race in the premier class, what we now know as MotoGP. <\/p>\n

But a lack of women at the top is something both the FIA and the FIM \u2013 the two governing bodies overseeing four and two-wheel motorsport \u2013 are working to change.<\/p>\n

Formula 1 now runs the Academy series, following lessons learned by the demise of the W-Series. The second season of the F1 Academy begins in Saudi Arabia this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The inaugural FIM Women's World Championship begins in Italy in June, before rounds in the UK, Portugal, Hungary, a second in Italy, before the season closes in Spain.<\/p>\n

Patterson said some criticism had been levelled at the two-wheel series for not venturing from Europe, but\u00a0 pointed out 18 countries are represented among the 24 riders on the grid.<\/p>\n

"That in itself is the true definition of a world championship," Patterson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"The fact that we're not just all Europeans racing on European tracks, this is truly a multinational championship."<\/p>\n

While the 2024 F1 Academy will run races at F1 grands prix across the Middle East, Asia, the USA and Europe, the inaugural season in 2023 only left Europe once.<\/p>\n

Both seasons had only seven races.<\/p>\n

You've got to walk before you can run.<\/p>\n

\"American<\/p>\n

It's all about the racing<\/h3>\n

Motorsport is one of the few sports where men and women can on paper compete as equals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while their gender may not be hidden behind panels and windows like they are in cars, once motorcycle racers climb into their leathers, strap on a helmet and drop the visor, they are more or less genderless, humanoid figures.<\/p>\n

"There is an inherent scepticism about women being talented, which I don't think is a fair assessment at all," Patterson said of women in motorsport.<\/p>\n

"More than that, if you're watching this championship, you're watching it because you like racing.<\/p>\n

"When the visor goes down, if you're concerned about the sex of the person on the bike, you're not watching for the racing \u2013 you're looking to find something to dislike about the person on the bike.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cy8hZSLIIL9\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

"While ultimately this is a championship dedicated to women, when the visor goes down, you don't care. You just want to watch a really good race.<\/p>\n

"Once the visor is down, they're just motorcycle racers. They're athletes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm not concerned about their sex or the colour of their hair. I wanna see them race and that's what this championship is about \u2013 racing."<\/p>\n

Like the proverbial bird…<\/h3>\n

Patterson is grateful her accident happened \u2013 as bizarre as it might sound.<\/p>\n

She now lives in Ireland with her husband, Simon. The pair met in the World Superbike paddock in mid-2019 and became close friends instantly.<\/p>\n

They remained in close contact throughout her hospital stay, and part of her motivation to move to Europe was to join him.<\/p>\n

She even messaged him asking if she could bum a lift from the airport. They got married in December 2022.<\/p>\n

\"Maddi<\/p>\n

"The day I had my accident, I was so scared my path in motorsport wasn't going to happen,"\u00a0 she said.<\/p>\n

"I was still working as a promotional model just before the accident \u2013 that was how I made money.<\/p>\n

"The experience was traumatic for a multitude of reasons. Being on fire for one is quite literally the most painful experience anyone could ever have and I'd never wish it on anyone.<\/p>\n

"But then this person I was had to go through this deep and real sort of therapy to understand life had changed so much.<\/p>\n

"A lot of how I perceived myself was about how I looked, and I had to learn not to see myself that way anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I had to learn very quickly that I was far more intelligent than I gave myself credit for."<\/p>\n

Patterson still deals with some minor side effects as a result of suffering such serious burns \u2013 scar tissue doesn't sweat, so the parts of her body that aren't covered in scar tissue sweat profusely.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Maddi_Paddy\/status\/1759984406104547709<\/a><\/p>\n

She also has difficulty regulating body temperature, and is particularly sensitive to the outside ambient air temperature. Having grown up in Australia, living in Europe means she's often cold.<\/p>\n

But that's better \u2013 it's far easier to warm up than it is to cool down. Besides, the scar tissue can get itchy on hot days.<\/p>\n

"It sounds so freakish to say, but I'm so grateful for my accident in a lot of ways," she said.<\/p>\n

"It has made me a patient and compassionate person, and it's filled me with gratitude. I wake up every day and I'm grateful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Not everything is the way I want it to be all the time, but I'm so grateful for the life I have."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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