Woman walking again after bottle kicking trampling

A woman says she is now able to walk again after she was trampled by players participating in an annual Easter Monday tradition.

Alexie Winship said she was among spectators watching the Hallaton bottle kicking in Leicestershire event last month when she was caught up in a scrum of participants.

The 24-year-old was taken to hospital where she was found to have suffered a neurological injury and a bleed on her spine, which left her without most feeling below her waist.

However, Ms Winship, from Market Harborough, Leicestershire, has told the BBC she is now continuing her recovery at home after two weeks in hospital.

Bottle kicking is an event where players attempt to wrestle wood kegs through a field to win.

Ms Winship said the action surged towards her, causing her to be pushed to the ground, kicked in the head and knocked unconscious.

She was taken first to the Leicester Royal Infirmary, then a week later to St Luke's Hospital in Market Harborough, before being discharged.

"I feel so lucky to be alive, it could have been so much worse," Ms Winship said.

She added that she was having physio to help her recovery.

Ms Winship said: "I have good days and bad days.

"With the feeling, it comes and it goes, it just depends on the day really. I am back at the gym now.

"But I find if I overdo it, that's when the side effects come into play.

"I do get really tired quite quickly now and standing up for lengthy periods of time puts a bit of strain on my back."

Recalling coming round in hospital, Ms Winship said she questioned whether she would ever walk again.

"I was just thinking, why has this happened to me?"

"I remember thinking, 'I hate this, I hate not being able to walk.'

"It was really frustrating," she said.

Bottle kicking takes place in a field between neighbouring villages Hallaton and Medbourne. It has few rules, but is won when players are able to carry two of three barrels across a stream back to their village.

Two of the "bottles" contain beer, while one is completely wooden - painted red and white - and is referred to as the dummy.

Organisers have said local legend suggested the event, preceded by a procession through Hallaton in which hare pies are scattered, can trace its roots back 2,000 years.

Ms Winship said she was an active, fit and healthy person who had been training to run a half-marathon before she was injured.

She said she aimed to run the 2026 London Marathon and has used the race as a target in her recovery.

After this year's event, Phil Allan, chairman of the bottle kicking organising committee, said he wished Ms Winship a "full recovery".

He added people were warned well in advance of the risks of entering the field of play.

"We don't want anyone to get hurt but you do get the odd injury - it's an age-old problem," Mr Allan said.

"We've looked at all sorts of things but you can't marshal it. It's an unpredictable event.

"We put posters up around the field telling people they enter at their own risk so they are warned. And we pay for ambulances and paramedics to attend in case anyone does get hurt."

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