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RideLondon-Surrey 100 cyclist dies after heart attackBroken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)

RideLondon-Surrey 100 cyclist dies after heart attack

Robin Chard died in hospital after being taken ill at Kingston Bridge
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Aug 01, 2016 13:02
7

Organisers of the Pridential RideSurrey-London 100 have confirmed that a cyclist from Oxfordshire died after sustaining a cardiac arrest during yesterday's event, in which 27,000 people participated.

Robin Chard, aged 48 and from Bicester, was at Kingston Bridge 25 miles into the ride when the cardiac arrest happened.

Despite receiving treatment on the spot from fellow participants and medical personnel, he died later in Kingston Hospital.

His wife Vickie said: “Robin was doing something he loved to raise money for Cancer Research UK, a cause that was very important to him after losing his father, his mother’s partner and my mother to cancer.

"I’d like to thank everyone who has helped and supported Robin and me, especially the event stewards, the event team and the amazing staff at Kingston Hospital.”    

As of 1pm today, more than £11,000 had been raised through Mr Chard's Just Giving page, with many donations being made by fellow riders who took part in yesterday's event.

Organisers said: "Everyone involved in Prudential RideLondon would like to express our sincere condolences to Robin’s family and friends."

In a separate incident yesterday, a crash resulted in many of those taking part in the event to be held up as a rider was airlifted to hospital after crashing into a tree,

According to organisers, "a total of 33 riders were taken to hospital and, of those, seven riders remain in hospital. Three riders were seriously injured.

"The Prudential RideLondon medical team is liaising closely with the hospitals and the welfare team is supporting the families of the injured riders," they added.

The nature of the event means and the number of people taking part - equivalent to the population of a reasonably sized town - means that riders suffering illness or injury and even fatalities are sadly inevitable.

Two cyclists have died in previous editions of the event following heart attacks - Kris Cook, aged 36, during the 2014 edition and Stephen Green, 55, last year.

Robin Chard
RideLondon 2016
heart attack
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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Stueys | 8 years ago
1 like

Sad to see, thoughts with the family.

 

It's a difficult one, I did it last year and overslept so managed to start at 7:30.  The riding was chaotic at best and it felt dangerous much of the time.  Partly that was self inflicted as I was trying to get a solid time so was moving faster than most, and partly caused by lots of riders with zero group experience crammed on narrow roads. 

Great event to do on closed roads but I wouldn't do it again unless I was one of the first groups out.  It's a fast course and I think they've allowed it to get too big.

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Accessibility f... | 8 years ago
0 likes

Poor guy, I wonder if this was an undiagnosed heart condition?

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iUpham | 8 years ago
0 likes

I rode the event and saw an aweful lot of accidents. 

I saw a 3 man pile up (looked like something out of the kama sutra)

I saw 1 older guy on the floor, face covered in blood

We then got held for just over an hour whilist they air lifted out the guy that hit a tree 

Then I saw a lady on the floor, face also covered in blood

A bit later I saw a girl involved in an accident which resulted in loss of teeth (and more blood)

It was all a bit chaotic to be honest. 

The event was well run, and they dealth with all the issues very promptly and professionally, but 26,000 cyclists on the road at the same time is insane. 

Come to think of it, this was the first cycling event I attended where there was no pre-ride safety briefing... Where they talk about keeping left, signals, signs, etc... No mention of that at all during the loading phase.

 

 

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kevvjj replied to iUpham | 8 years ago
0 likes

iUpham wrote:

Come to think of it, this was the first cycling event I attended where there was no pre-ride safety briefing... Where they talk about keeping left, signals, signs, etc... No mention of that at all during the loading phase.

 

Lots of information on this in all of the pre-ride stuff given out. Web site, Facebook page, final instructions. It's all there.

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Notgettinganyfaster replied to iUpham | 8 years ago
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iUpham wrote:

Come to think of it, this was the first cycling event I attended where there was no pre-ride safety briefing... Where they talk about keeping left, signals, signs, etc... No mention of that at all during the loading phase.

To be fair to the people organising, it was in the rider pack with the ballot result and in the final instructions booklet, also the early waves had a pace car and a motorbike with no overtaking (although its not a race???? ) to try and keep things calmer and were released 'when they felt it was safe'... 

Avatar
rjfrussell replied to iUpham | 8 years ago
2 likes

iUpham wrote:

 

Come to think of it, this was the first cycling event I attended where there was no pre-ride safety briefing... Where they talk about keeping left, signals, signs, etc... No mention of that at all during the loading phase.

 

 

 

That is a very good point.  A hard hitting safety briefing would have been much more valuable than the DJ ding-dinging.

Avatar
zacspeed | 8 years ago
0 likes

Very sad to read this.

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