Accident almost ruined career
TRIATHLON
Daire Walsh
Bryan Keane can remember the exact time that he suffered the injury that almost derailed his career as a triathlete.
A cycling accident on the Cork to Cobh road in 2010 effectively ruled him out of contention for the Olympics in London two years later, but with the upcoming summer games in Rio now on the horizon, the Cork City native has been able to consign his injury problems to the past.
“Yeah, so 2010, September 17th, about 6.30 to be exact, on the Cork to Cobh road! It’s something that definitely, it put a question mark on my career, definitely. I got knocked down, I had two surgeries on my knee, I didn’t know whether I was going to come back,” Keane reveals.
“I’d to learn to run again. Look, all these things, they add colour to my career. I didn’t know whether I was going to come back or not, but thankfully I got back and I got back racing, and I probably missed London 2012 because of that, but look I’m here now, it’s 2016. That’s in the past. I’ve moved on, I was very lucky.
“I had a fantastic team around me, who got me back, who believed in me. I was the driver of it. As long as I was driving, they were happy to go on that ride. Martina McCarthy and Deirdre Burrell were the team behind me, with physio and strength and conditioning, and they got me here, but my qualification as much as it’s for me, it’s for them.
“It’s for anyone who is involved in Triathlon Ireland.”
Considering how long the road for recovery was for Keane, he is extremely appreciative of the good will that he has received since securing his qualification for the Rio Olympics. Indeed, a recent race in Derry – the hometown of his fellow Triathlete Aileen Reid – brought home just how much it means for so many people across Ireland.
“The good will that I’ve received for qualification is massive. We raced at Derry at the weekend, and Aileen [Reid] and myself were both there. We very rarely get to race in Ireland, and be able to go to race in Ireland.
“Everyone wanting photographs, it’s brilliant, and you’re there and people are excited.
“Excited for you racing in the Olympics, and it’s fantastic to be able to share that, and to give people something to cheer about.
“I guess we’re lucky in one way, we come from a country in which we don’t have a big Olympic team, and you’re in a little select club, and your sport of Triathlon, they really get behind you.
“There’s nothing but good will for us. It’s brilliant,” Keane added.