Waterford man David Halligan was already having a rough time before he cracked his shoulder blade after the stage five of the An Post Rás last week. The Comeragh CC rider was on his way back to the team hotel when a bottle jammed his front wheel and flung him to the ground (Photo: George Doyle)
By Brian Canty
The Comeragh CC team had a week they’re unlikely to forget at the An Post Rás. From taking a county rider prize to being fined for selfies, they really endured the whole gamut of emotions a bike race can throw at a team.
Four of them crashed on day one, two needed new bikes and they raced against the time cut on a couple of occasions.
But in the case of David Halligan, well, his story takes the biscuit.
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The project manager from Waterford had just finished stage five into Clonakilty and was cruising back to the team accommodation when bad luck kicked in.
After surviving five days of sheer carnage, a bottle somehow became wedged between his front wheel and down tube and he was thrown to the ground where his hip took the brunt of the impact.
Or so he thought.
He was shredded all down his side and his immediate concern was his hip. But that initial pain masked a broken scapula, or shoulder blade.
The Waterford Comeragh CC team had a week of ups and downs but credit to one and all, they made it to Skerries. Albeit, battered, bruised and in David Halligan's case, broken.
“We got away unscathed, we had crashes the first day and four of the lads came down; that day was horrible,” recalled Halligan.
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“We got up to day five untouched, got through the stage and we were going back to the B&B when a plastic water bottle bounced up, got caught between the frame and the wheel and threw me off the bike.
“I got up and was all cut down my side and that took the focus away from the shoulder,” he recalled.
Halligan knew if he went for an X-ray and was told he’d broken a bone that would be the end of him
So he simply ploughed on through two brutally hard stages that followed, one of which was into Dungarvan.
“The only true way to know the extent of the damage was to get an X-ray but if it was broken they’d say I couldn’t continue.
“The hip distracted me from my shoulder I think, but the following day into Dungarvan the pain and suffering took its toll. I definitely felt the pinch when I got to Dungarvan.
“Obviously being from Waterford I’d a lot of family and friends at the finish but it’s only when they said I looked wrecked that I knew something was definitely up. I was white in the face.”
Halligan battled through the next day to Baltinglass and somehow, over Mount Leinster.
He was well down the standings but cared not as his only focus was on making it to Skerries on the final day to complete the race.
“I went to see the race doctor in Kildare before the final stage. He said I had good movement but I got it strapped up anyway and got through.
“But I went home that evening and got it X-rayed I discovered it was a cracked scapula.
“That bone is flat and it’s up at the back of my shoulder so it’s not weight-bearing which meant it wasn’t too bad.
“The worst was the rattling from the bike and going down descents!”
Halligan will be off the bike for up to six weeks but is just glad to have come through.
“They said between 5-6 weeks rest. The pain is not as bad today, though it’s not being rattled for four hours!”
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