As a teenager Brendan Johnston had a fairly common dream, turning his sporting passion into a profession, but what wasn't as common was that he also had the talent and commitment to make a life as a pro-cyclist a realistic proposition. Though, just as the 17-year-old multi-discipline rider hit the stage when he could chase international opportunities in earnest, a cancer diagnosis led to a quick and unavoidable deviation.
“I had to mature real quick as a person and also as an athlete,” the 31-year-old Johnston told Cyclingnews when looking back to that period of his life. “Having your health is taken for granted and I didn't really consider so much that as an athlete you need full health and no one really, I guess, appreciates that until it goes away.”
