Matt Clough is taking a break from the top class stuff. Photo suppliedThere is more to life than sport – especially during these times.

That is certainly the way Ashburton multisport hero Matthew Clough views things, despite toiling his way to the top of his sport.

After battling his way back from a serious injury last year, the 20-year-old decided he was going to take the year off to focus on his studies, following this year’s Coast to Coast event.

“I hadn’t had a proper break for about four years,” he said.

“I would race the summer season over in New Zealand and then I’d be training towards world champs which would be around the New Zealand winter – so I’d be training 365 days a year almost.

“I decided that I was going to give the body a rest.”

With Covid coming along to throw sporting competitions and events into disarray, the timing was strangely well-suited as far as Clough’s plans for a competitive breather.

He accepted the award for Outstanding Senior Sportsperson at the Mid Canterbury Sports Awards via a video call from his Dunedin flat earlier this year.

Clough, who has donned the silver fern abroad in recent times, said the crisis still cast some doubt over his career in the short-term.

“Nobody in the world knows when it’s all going to go back to normal, and when overseas travel is going to be allowed.

“It’s real uncertain times at the moment, not just for me, but for everyone else in the world.”

After an eventful 2019 highlighted by a world title triumph at the World Under-20 Cross Tri Championships in Spain and a serious injury, taking some time out physically is probably a rather wise decision as Clough works his way through a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Otago University.

Clough knows all too well that the risk of injury is never beyond the realms of possibility.

Not wanting to risk anything, he prudently opted to wait until he had returned from his world championship engagement in April before playing football with his hall of residence buddies.

He returned from Spain a world champion; however after a fortnight back he ended up in A&E with a broken ankle after being struck down at football practice.

“I was like, now is probably the best time for it to happen.

“I just had it in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to play in case something happens, and that reinforced that point.”

While the injury in a way was timely that it occurred on the right side of a world championship showing, the damage was significant enough to put the squeeze on preparation for this year’s Coast to Coast.

“I had eight months (until the Coast to Coast) and I’m in a cast for eight weeks,” he said.

“I had to teach myself to walk, then run.

“It was quite a struggle.”

It was October until Clough was able to run properly, before tearing into training for the Coast about a month later.

A month before Coast to Coast he went for his first off-road run since breaking his ankle.

“I ran about 10 kilometres, not very long compared to what you do in the Coast.

“I got back home that night and it was swollen and bruised, and got up the next morning and I was struggling to walk.”

After some prompt physiotherapy, he got in enough training to line up at the event back in February, where he finished third in the open category in the two-day individual event and fourth overall after registering a time of 11hrs 50mins.

It was a remarkable accomplishment considering he was content with simply finishing the race more than a month out.

“I’m such a competitive person, I can’t just muck around and do this slowly,” he said.

“I gave what I got.”

With no concrete plans to resume training, Clough is now enjoying a deserved break as he completes his studies and assesses his future options amid some uncertain times.

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 3 September 2020