Former swimsuit model turns rodeo rider

This weekend Tammara Wrenn becomes the first female to enter the southern hemisphere's biggest rodeo, at Mount Isa in Queensland.

Not bad for a coma patient who wasn't expected to survive, let alone walk again, after a dirt-biking accident back in 2003, the Northern Territory News reported Saturday.

"I was in a full coma for 13 days then a semi-coma for 2 1/2 months," the former Australian Swimsuit Calendar's Miss April 2003 told the NT News after her recovery.

"Doctors said I was pretty much clinically dead with all the damage to my brain. I was sitting in my wheelchair feeling sorry for myself but I wasn't getting anywhere, so I just put all my energy into getting better, improving my strength and my speech."

After making it back on to the catwalk five months after her accident, the 28-year-old has gone on to tackle a range of challenges, and is now the only female registered with the Australian Professional Rodeo Association.

"This is her first event for us," a spokeswoman told Australia Associated Press.

The Mount Isa Rodeo will draw 20,000-odd spectators to the town 1,180 miles (1,900km) northwest of state capital Brisbane this weekend, bringing in an estimated $2.4 million for the local economy.

Riders from Brazil, Canada, the US and New Zealand will be competing at the event, The North West Star reported.