Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 115, February 2019 | Page 46

MULTISPORT
the very next morning to do the operation, which
saw the medical team insert four screws and two
interconnecting rods as well as some donor bone
to increase the structural strength of the area.
However, Dr Davis also told Matt to prepare for
the worst in terms of his tri career. “He was honest
with me that even if the surgery was successful,
it is very rare for sports professionals to return to
their original competitive levels again after such an
injury,” says Matt.
Matt had taken up triathlon in 2012 while living in the
UK and finished second in a local event. That spurred
him on to return to SA and train for the Ironman,
where he finished 20 th in Port Elizabeth in 2013 and
qualified for his first Kona. In Hawaii, Matt had another
great race, but ran out of legs somewhat towards the
end of the run and was passed by another athlete. “I
asked him what age group he was in as he went past,
and he answered simply, yours,” says Matt. “When I
finished I found out he was the first non-pro in the 25
to 29 age category home, with me second.”
While Matt was slightly disappointed to have lost out
on the category win, the result spurred him on to turn
pro. A year later he posted that first big win in Wales,
and says, “That was confirmation that I could do this
as a career. It answered the question: Do you really
want to get a desk job, or can you dig a little harder?”
More success followed as Matt carved out a career in
the sport, but then came the accident that nearly took
it all away.
Struck from Behind
Matt was in the final week of training for the 70.3 SA
Champs, where he hoped to defend his title, so he
headed out on Saturday 31 December for a four-hour
ride that would include a few hill repeats on the
Helshoogte Pass from Stellenbosch to Franschhoek.
“It’s a route that I had done numerous times before,
and anyone who has ridden along the R44 near
Stellenbosch knows it as a safe cycling route by
South African standards, and one used by many a
triathlete and cyclist. Recent experience on this same
road had made me a little more wary, but it’s still hard
to imagine yourself being in danger in the middle of
the day, on a flat road with clear visibility, and a large
yellow emergency lane to ride in.”
About an hour into his ride, without any warning,
Matt was suddenly struck from behind. A car had
veered into the emergency lane, possibly to let
another vehicle pass, and hit Matt’s bike. He rolled
over the car’s bonnet, smashed into the windshield,
somersaulted over the roof and landed on the road
before rolling into the grass beside the road. “I didn’t
hear a thing. I actually thought I’d hit a pothole, and
when I regained my senses, I had no idea how serious
Matt
has to
manage
the load
on his
back
carefully
it was. I’d chipped a tooth and was bleeding from my
mouth, and I thought that was the worst of it!”
“Thankfully, someone came to my aid pretty quickly,
and also very luckily, an ambulance and police
vehicles were nearby. Apparently the driver of the
Hyundai Getz that hit me, a 78-year-old lady, was
in as much shock as I was and couldn’t remember
what had happened. Once loaded into the ambulance
and lying on my back I could feel that besides the
burn of the road rash, my back was also pretty
uncomfortable. I was taken to the Stellenbosch
Mediclinic where X-rays and an MRI confirmed that
I had sustained a compression fracture of my L1
vertebra. This was most likely caused by the initial
impact with the bonnet and windshield, and then torn
spinal ligaments from excessive rotational force as I
flew through the air and hit the ground. When reality
sank in, I was gutted. I went from thinking about
racing, to worrying I might never walk again.”
Serious Diagnosis
The doctors told Matt that due to the torn ligaments,
the only option was surgery to fuse the T12-L2
vertebrae together, or he would risk having a bent
back for the rest of his life. The good news was
that one of the country’s best spinal surgeons, Dr
Johan Davis lives in Stellenbosch and was available
Training in safety in his garage in Cape Town
46
ISSUE 115 FEBRUARY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Then again, you don’t win Ironman events without a
strong fighting spirit, and within a day of the surgery
Matt was driving the nurses and his wife Nicole crazy
by walking around all the time. “I just told them that Dr
Davis had said I was allowed to walk, so that’s what I
was doing!” That soon turned into daily walks, getting
ever longer, and both the doctor and Matt’s coach had
to order him to tone things down, or risk jeopardising
his career. “After that, it was a very difficult time,
because I wasn’t allowed to push myself, so I wasn’t
seeing a lot of progress, but I had been getting a
bit carried away, treating the recovery process like
training, and I’m glad that I slowed down. Thankfully,
Nicole is an occupational therapist, so she is used to
dealing with these kinds of injuries and was very good
at making sure I didn’t push things too far, too soon.”
Having toned things down, good news followed when
Matt’s six-week check-up showed that his bones
were healing well, and he was given the all-clear to
start swimming, albeit with flotation devices to keep
his back straight. A few weeks later Matt was back
in the saddle, on an indoor bike, and soon after that
began running on an anti-gravity treadmill at the
Stellenbosch Academy of Sports. Initially, all he was
allowed was one minute at 60% of his bodyweight,
but he says even that felt incredible, considering his
back had been broken just a few months earlier.
Always on His Mind
Now, just over two years after the accident, and with
an impressive list of wins and high placings in various
events to his name, Matt is well and truly back to his
best, but he says the accident stays with him. “My
back feels OK, but I think it’s obviously going to be
with me forever, because the fusion is permanent. The
biggest problem is that with three fused vertebrae, it
takes away the shock absorption in that area, so there
is more strain on my back overall, especially from
running. My flexibility is not too bad, though, because
the injury happened in the middle of the lumbar spine,
where there is not as much flexing, so I don’t feel it on
the bike.”
Running on an anti-gravity treadmill
helped Matt get running again
support. The race holds a special place in my heart,
so I was thrilled to win it again, and that qualified me
for Ironman World Champs in Kona, which is my big
goal this year, because I feel like my first Kona passed
me by.”