Matt Teggart is about to get his time in the pro bunch underway. And, as he tells us, he has endured more than most just to stay in the game (Photo: George Doyle)
By Brian Canty
Matt Teggart has revealed details of the “difficult times” he has endured in his career to date, with injuries threatening to derail his progress.
The 21-year old Banbridge rider learnt as a first-year espoir that he suffers from a rare genetic condition that also affected his father.
In plain terms, a trapped nerve “somewhere” in Teggart junior’s pelvis caused his leg muscles to seize up to the point where he was off the bike for nine months.
“I had a few difficult times with crashes and injuries,” he reflected at the An Post Chain Reaction team’s official training camp last week.
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“There was one stage a few years ago with injury as a junior… we’ve figured out it’s a genetic thing.
“It had my dad off the bike 16 years and he searched all over the world for answers. So when it hit me he thought it was game over
“But I always believed and searched for answers and we found a woman in Dublin who has cured us both.
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Winning stage 3 of the Junior Tour of Ireland in 2014 really underlined Teggart was overcoming his condition and finding his form again (Photo: Stephen McMahon – Sportsfile)
“It takes quite a bit of management and physio. I took three years to get me 100 per cent but I’ve exercises and things to stay on top of it.
“I’ve also to ride a specific saddle for the rest of my life,” he added.
It was not the start he would have wanted, but he has coped admirably with it.
“After the Junior Tour the first year I didn’t sit on a bike for nine months,” he said of his very testing period.
“I could hardly walk or anything. Somewhere in my pelvis a trapped nerve caused my glutes, legs and everything to seize up and I was in agony for months.”
Teggart discovered his pelvic floor muscles were far too tight and all the nerves that channel through them were trapped because the muscles were too restrictive.
“It was pure luck the woman who sorted me out, Maeve Whelan, was in Dublin. She is the reason I’m sitting here and any time I’m home I’d try and see her.”
We’ll have a longer interview with Teggart where he talks about his race programme, his plans for 2017 and growing up in the shadow of Michael O’Loughin and Eddie Dunbar.
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