A former junior island goalkeeper whose ambition is to represent the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games will shortly be on his way to Australia with the team.

Sam Brand, who played football for St John’s and his home town of Peel, will be part of Mark Cavendish’s support train in the men’s 120-mile road race on April 10.

Strangely, Sam’s original aim was to qualify for the triathlon, but such was his natural ability and strength on the bike that he was persuaded to concentrate solely on cycling.

What a transition it has been for the soon-to-be-27-year-old.

Two years after graduating from the University of Northumbria, he is now a full-time member of the Novo Nordisk professional cycling team contesting top-quality UCI events from Colorado to China.

Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 10, on World Diabetes Day (November 14, 2001), Sam regards diabetes as a positive. ’It has given me a structure to my life,’ he insists. ’It’s given me a path that I am very grateful for. I wouldn’t be where I am now and doing something I really enjoy without it.’

Throughout his four years at uni in Newcastle, his sporting focus was mainly on triathlon, taking his father Ian’s lead. Sam attained a very good standard, qualifying for the 2013 ITU Age Group World Championships in London, gaining the attention of Team Novo Nordisk. The world’s first all-diabetes professional cycling team with the goal to ’inspire, educate and empower those around the world affected by diabetes’.

He was invited to join the team’s programme the following season. In 2014 he again represented Great Britain at Age Group World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.

The following year he finished runner-up in the men’s 20-24 age group at the British Triathlon Championships.

After graduating from university in 2015, Sam decided to focus exclusively on cycling and moved over to Team Novo Nordisk’s development squad in the 2016 season.

’When my degree ended I went to a combined training camp and in the September I began a graduate job,’ he explained. ’Team Novo Nordisk contacted me in the November and offered me a position in the cycling squad, so I left my job that Christmas and started with the cycling team in January 2016.

’To that point I had been on the elite roster squad catering for triathletes and runners. I had been swimming in the pool at uni and running at Gateshead.

’I was simply a good all-rounder, I had never ridden in a cycle race and my longest ride on a bike would be a couple of hours.

’All of a sudden it was full-on with the bike. I didn’t know how to be a cyclist, it was a real culture shock. That March, with the full support of my family, I moved to the team’s base in Atlanta, Georgia. From then on I was racing every weekend, in crits, time trials and road races.

’Within three weeks I was in my first stage race - the UCI 2.2 Joe Martin event. I was quite literally in at the deep-end. It was full gas for two hours then a summit finish to the stage. I thought: "What the hell?"

’It was all a big learning experience. Next we were off to Europe, where we chaperoned the pink jersey from Milan to Stage one in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. Overall I was racing well and had a couple of podiums.’

At the end the first season, five moved up from the development squad for under-25s to the full pro team where all the riders have type 1 diabetes.

Not selected to move up at this stage, Sam knew that he needed more time in the development squad. Novo Nordisk is a Danish team, but is licensed in the US.

In late 2016 the pro and development teams went to the Dominican Republic where they worked to build three houses for deprived families there, some of whom are living with diabetes.

’They were wooden construction buildings, but we all mucked in and did all of the work as a team, including the electrical and plumbing fittings. It was great seeing and helping some of the children there. A real eye-opener.

’From there we went training in Stone Mountain, north Atlanta. We worked hard in what was solid winter training and were ready to go in the February with our first event, back in the Dominican Republic for an eight-day UCI stage race where I finished top-25.’

This proved a good stepping stone to a hectic run of races over the coming months, including another UCI 2.1 event in Thailand, then a European tour with races in Ukraine, three more single day races, Romania and Poland. A top-20 result on GC in Romania, amongst other results, earned him a Commonwealth Games consideration standard.

It was then back to the Isle of Man in late June for the British national road championships, at which point he received the exciting news that he had received a call up to the pro team as a stagiaire from the start of August.

’I went back out to the US for a two-week training camp before the Tour of Utah - acknowledged as America’s toughest stage race. In amongst World Tour riders, it was certainly my hardest race to date.’

From there he moved up another step to the Colorado Tour in which there were four full World Tour teams. ’I was quite simply in a dream world and I had only been cycling seriously for 18 months. This race was brutal. We were up in the Rockies for one start to a stage at Breckenridge where the altitude was 3,000 metres.’

It was then that Sam was advised to get himself a visa for China as he had been offered a full pro contract for 2018.

’I couldn’t believe it. In no time I was on my way to China for an eight-day stage race. The racing there was good, fast and flat.

’After a short break I was back out there for the Tour of Hainan on an island near Macau in early November - Hainan is China’s Hawaii. There were seven stages in all, including three at more than 200 kilometres in length [120 miles].’

The Peel man finished a solid 40th place on the Queen stage. That week brought to an end a long and tough year of racing and travelling involving 60-odd UCI-standard race days.

It had been a baptism of fire for the 26-year-old, but he proved that he had the desire and the ability to mix it in the pro ranks.

He’s just had a couple of weeks back home after attending a team training camp at Altea in Spain’s Costa Blanca. He heads off to the warmth again shortly to ride the World Tour-ranked Abu Dhabi Tour, which Mark Cavendish is also taking part in.

Both men will be looking a month or so ahead to the Commonwealth Games. Sam flies out to Australia’s Gold Coast with the bulk of the Isle of Man team on April 1, Cav will be going later.

’The course there is apparently technical and lumpy. I know it will be a hard task, but I have also asked if I can ride the time trial. I like being on my own in the zone going at the max for an hour,’ he said. ’It’s crazy, I never thought I’d be selected for the Commonwealth Games as a cyclist.

’It will be very much a supporting role out there with the intention of taking Cav to the line. It’s strange for a lot of people to comprehend, but doing your job in this situation doesn’t necessarily mean finishing. We are racing for one of the favourites in the race, so the pressure will be on. Road racing is all about tactics and you do as you are told.

’It will be a six-man road team limited to tactics, so we will all need to work like a well-oiled machine and work fluidly together.’

Sam doesn’t look at his condition as a handicap, indeed quite the reverse: ’Diabetes doesn’t define me; what I do with my diabetes does. If I can positively affect even just one person affected by diabetes, then that would be fantastic.’