Mental Health nurse Sam Crome has raced for Japanese continental cycling team Ukyo this year, while trying to manage his graduate nursing program.
Mental Health nurse Sam Crome has found the silver lining in the coronavirus cloud.
At the start of the year, the international cyclist was at a career crossroads, pondering how to manage his sporting responsibilities with a fledgling nursing career.
He had just secured a place in Bendigo Health’s graduate nursing program but was still competing in international races for Japanese continental cycling team Ukyo, most recently in Taiwan in March.
“The pandemic made the decision for me. A lot of our racing is fly in fly out which you can’t really do anymore, so it has allowed me to fully concentrate on work,” he said.
Sam was drawn to mental health nursing after a positive experience during one of his work placements at Bendigo Health while studying at La Trobe University.
He’s spent time with the Short-Term Treatment Team and the Extended Care Unit and has just started a placement on the inpatient Older Persons Unit.
The skills developed and experiences gained from four years of racing at the elite level have helped Sam in confronting situations at work.
“I’m quite calm. You have to learn to stay calm and not use up all your energy on a long race during a tour. Some tours can be nine days with up to 200km raced in a single day,” he said.
Gruelling tour schedules have also prepared him for shift work.
“Sometimes you’d fly in overnight, race the next day and have long travel days in between so I’m used to those long days,” he said.
Sam, 26, has been racing for half his life, competing in events around the world, and while he harbours hope of racing internationally next year, he realises the coronavirus isn’t going anywhere fast.
“A lot of the teams have been hit financially throughout the pandemic, travel and quarantine is another problem. Racing is just hard to plan for at this stage with so much uncertainty,” he said.
