Laurie Tennant was knocked unconscious after a gust of wind caught him mid-jump at a BMX track in October 2020. His helmet cracked front to back, he fractured an eye socket, and he was alone when it happened.

"I went for a jump and before I knew it a gust of wind caught me and I flew 20 feet onto my head. My helmet cracked from front to back. I fractured an eye socket and was knocked out cold."

Laurie Tennant

When he reached A&E the following morning, no brain scan was carried out — he'd had one the previous year after his first concussion, and doctors were cautious about radiation exposure. He was advised to take it easy and given a GP follow-up a month later.

Laurie is keen to flag that both his concussions happened during training, not competition. As he put it: "Concussion doesn't just happen in the big games or races — it can happen during training or just playing about."

What followed was a cascade of debilitating symptoms — terrible migraines, sickness, double vision, nausea, brain fatigue, poor spatial awareness, and severely diminished memory. Laurie describes waking up some mornings and being sick before normalising it as part of his day.

"People would try to have a conversation with me, but I did not have the capacity to hold one. I would respond with one or two words. My mum said recently she had not seen me smile for a six-month period."

Laurie Tennant

The impact on his relationships was significant. Friends and family misread his silence as rudeness. His girlfriend broke up with him around a month after the accident. He retreated to his room, unable to cope with noise or conversation.

Laurie had just begun studying Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Exeter when the accident happened. He pushed through to Christmas, sat one of four exams as the university required, and then hit a wall.

"From January to early March 2021, I was in the darkest times. I spent most of my time in bed. I started to contemplate suicide — it was the worst place I have ever been in my life."

Laurie Tennant

By March 2021, physical symptoms began to ease and Laurie started riding again. Blood tests in April revealed hormonal imbalances and elevated cortisol — a reflection of the sustained physical and psychological stress. He returned to training, worked on balance, reaction times and strength, and by July 2021 competed in the national enduro championships, finishing 28th elite. By August he had won a downhill race at Malvern's Classic.

But the recovery was not linear. Returning to university in September 2021 brought renewed fatigue, stress, and visual difficulties. He fell behind on coursework, failed exams, and eventually — following private consultation with a concussion specialist in February 2022 — was able to present a full medical report to his university and take the time off he needed.

"For the first time in 16 months — there is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel."

Laurie Tennant

Laurie is now a HIT device owner. As he eases back into riding, he reflects on how a product like HIT could have changed things.

"Concussion management is fine at races when there are marshals around, but everybody who takes the sport seriously spends a lot of time riding alone or in remote places. This product makes sense — it's an added layer of protection. It could be the data that leads you to riding for another half hour, or heading home and calling it a day."

Laurie Tennant

Mountain biking was Laurie's safe space before the accident — the place he went to relax, to be social, to be himself. Rebuilding that relationship with the sport is part of his ongoing recovery. From everyone at HIT, we wish him well.