Four-wheel drive hits Canberra cyclists

From the ABC web site...

A four-wheel drive vehicle has hit a group of cyclists on Cotter Road in
Canberra, causing serious injuries.

About five cyclists were in the group that was hit just after 10:00am AEST.

Two have been taken to the Canberra Hospital.

One is in a critical condition and the other in a serious condition.

The injured cyclists were believed to have been competing in the
Canberra Cycling Tour.

ACT Emergency Services Agency spokesman Russell Buchanan says the
section of road is quite dangerous.

"It's a very hard area, there's a hill and it drops down through some
S-bends and it's notorious for incidents over the years," he said.

Canberra Cycling Tour spokeswoman Tanya Sard says the women's B race was
suspended immediately after the accident.

She says all the competitors are being checked for injuries and are
receiving counselling.

"They were all together and they saw it and the majority of the bunch
did come down but only a few riders came into the course of the oncoming
car," she said.

Patrick Keogh Wrote:
From the ABC web site...

A four-wheel drive vehicle has hit a group of cyclists on Cotter Road
in
Canberra, causing serious injuries.

About five cyclists were in the group that was hit just after 10:00am
AEST.

Two have been taken to the Canberra Hospital.

One is in a critical condition and the other in a serious condition.

The injured cyclists were believed to have been competing in the
Canberra Cycling Tour.

ACT Emergency Services Agency spokesman Russell Buchanan says the
section of road is quite dangerous.

"It's a very hard area, there's a hill and it drops down through some
S-bends and it's notorious for incidents over the years," he said.

Canberra Cycling Tour spokeswoman Tanya Sard says the women's B race
was
suspended immediately after the accident.

She says all the competitors are being checked for injuries and are
receiving counselling.

"They were all together and they saw it and the majority of the bunch
did come down but only a few riders came into the course of the
oncoming
car," she said.

Not good news.

Hope everyone is OK.

Best wishes to everyone affected.

SteveA


--
SteveA

On 2007-04-29, Patrick Keogh (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
From the ABC web site...

And more detailed on tonight's ABC news.

The injured cyclists were believed to have been competing in the
Canberra Cycling Tour.

On or near Mt Stromlo if the footage was at all an indication, and it
was a bunch from the women's B grade race, if I understood correctly.

I don't think any active denizen of this froup would be participating
in that; I hope no lurkers of this group were affected.

Something about clipped wheels and then one rider falling into the
path of the oncoming 4WD -- she's now critical.

I think the ABC news even managed to rustle up a spokesperson from CA.

--
TimC
Never trust a man who can count to 1,023 on his fingers. --unknown

In aus.bicycle on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:48:14 +1000
TimC wrote:

Something about clipped wheels and then one rider falling into the
path of the oncoming 4WD -- she's now critical.


Ouch!

Traumatic for all, including the driver.

Zebee

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:48:14 +1000, TimC
wrote:

On or near Mt Stromlo if the footage was at all an indication, and it
was a bunch from the women's B grade race, if I understood correctly.

http://www.canberracyclingclub.org.a...asp?IntPgId=15

Stage 3 C3/C4 would be my guess, said start of Brindabella Rd.

"Patrick Keogh" wrote:
From the ABC web site...

A four-wheel drive vehicle has hit a group of cyclists on Cotter Road in
Canberra, causing serious injuries.

snip

"They were all together and they saw it and the majority of the bunch did
come down but only a few riders came into the course of the oncoming car,"
she said.

A very diturbing peice of news, and my thoughts go out to all those injured.
Hope they recover quickly.

Maybe a case of the 'cycling media' here putting too much of a slant on a
story however. What I heard on tonight's TV news was that the cyclists
clipped wheels while racing then fell in the path of the 4WD, one being hit
and seriously injured. We need to leave the judgements up to the police, and
courts if necessary

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

PeteSig Wrote:
We need to leave the judgements up to the police, and
courts if necessary


Hope everyone that was hurt, recovers well, particularly the girl who
is critical. Will wait for all the information to form my view.

Sux.


--
MikeyOz

Aeek wrote:
On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:48:14 +1000, TimC
wrote:

On or near Mt Stromlo if the footage was at all an indication, and it
was a bunch from the women's B grade race, if I understood correctly.

http://www.canberracyclingclub.org.a...asp?IntPgId=15

Stage 3 C3/C4 would be my guess, said start of Brindabella Rd.

It was 5 mins behind our bunch heading down into Cotter Xing on the
Cotter Rd. Stage 3 58k loop. Women's B with a few of our friends in
the bunch. Our club treasurer came down pretty hard and hit her head
but has apparently left hospital now. I wouldn't like to give my
version of events as it's likely to be affected by Chinese whispers, as
we didn't find out until we saw that Women's B (who were 5 mins behind
and supposed to be riding the same route) were at the start/finish when
we came to the end of the race. Suffice to say there were a few wheels
clipped, some riders came down and one was hit by an oncoming car. Not
good at all. Ten seconds either way and it may have been no more than a
bit of lost skin. We were all pretty shocked.

--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

Sad to hear about this. I hope everyone that was injuired makes a
speedy recovery.

But well done to the Canberra Cycling Club on the tour. 600+ entries.
Road cycling is certainly on the up.


--
neon

Although I did not see the crash, I know the area where it happened
quite well as its on one of the most popular training routes in
Canberra.

Having spoken to a few of the people in the club it was just one of
those freak accidents that happen in races, with a bit of bad luck
thrown in. They were coming down into the Cotter river which is quite
fast with a couple of tight turns and there was a small clip of the
wheels and unfortunately as they all went down a 4x4 came around the
corner. Its not really a busy road and quite often you can do the
whole loop without even seeing a car, just other cyclists.

Lets hope they all heal soon and get back on the bike.


--
jcjordan