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news
broken bike.jpgIndian Pacific Wheel Race rider feared dead in car crash
Update 02:00 BST March 31: While the identity of the dead rider has still not been confirmed, the event's live tracking system has shown Mike Hall's tracker travelling at around 100km/h toward Canberra, leading to calls on Twitter for it to be turned off.
Reports are coming in that a competitor in the trans-Australia Indian Pacific Wheel Race has died after being hit by a car on the Monaro Highway south of Australian capital Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Very few details are available, but the location of the incident in which a male cyclist was killed corresponds to the last known position of second-placed rider Mike Hall.
It has not been officially confirmed that the rider was a participant in the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, but ABC News has identified him as such.
Finbar O’Mallon of the Canberra Times reports that ACT Policing Station Sergeant Chris Meagher said at 9.30am that police had been unable to contact the next-of-kin.
Sergeant Meagher ruled out alcohol or speeding and said the driver was in shock and being treated at hospital.
ACT police said in a statement: “About 6.25am, police responded to a report of a collision on the Monaro Highway towards Williamsdale between a car and a cyclist.
“ACT Ambulance Service attended and the male cyclist was pronounced deceased at the scene.
“ACT Policing's Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team (CIRT) are examining the circumstances surrounding the collision.”
Indian Pacific Wheel Race organisers said in a statement:
"A collision between a motor vehicle and a cyclist occurred on the Monaro Highway at Royalla in New South Wales at approx. 6.20am on Friday morning.
"Race organisers are working with local authorities.
"We will cooperate fully with official investigations and we intend to undertake a detailed investigation of our own.
"Race organisers will provide more information when it becomes available."
More details to follow.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- ktache 50 min 9 sec ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 1 hour 45 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 1 hour 53 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
- David9694 1 hour 57 min ago
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 2 hours 43 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 2 hours 52 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 4 hours 26 sec ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 6 hours 40 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 6 hours 57 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 7 hours 23 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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25 comments
Tragic news.
Tragic news.
RIP Mike. Condolences to all family and friends. Terrible terrible news.
I'm gutted, my sincerest condolences to Mike's family and friends.
I'm also furious, but now is not the time for a wild rant. I can only hope the Australian media pick this up in the right way and something can be done to change Australian mindsets when it comes to the car.
Terrible news. Thoughts go out to his family and friends. And to all who have come to know him through his expressions of love for cycling. He was a total inspiration.
RIP Mike, you were an inspiration.
There's a JustGiving page for his family: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Mikehall?utm_id=60&utm_term=Rkx4...
The Monaro Highway has always been a dreadful road. Mostly straight, two narrow lanes, little dips and hollows all the way along. It's on the way to the ski resorts, in open country, so there's always lots of speeding. Drivers try mad overtaking manoeuvres.
There have been improvements over time, passing lanes, turning lanes at junctions, but when I lived in Oz I always feared driving along it.
The SMH is reporting this from Mike in the days before the crash:
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/champion-cyclist-mike-hall-killed-in...
Absolutely shocking, Mike was a legend and incredibly inspiring, condolences to his family.
Just shows though - we are not safe out there, his tweets clearly indicating poor driving by some - well actually poor respect and care for others by some drivers - and is it not about time the law started to do something about these behaviours?
Ride in Peace, Mike.
I met Mike Hall doing rollapaluza at the Mud Dock in Bristol.
Sad to hear this has happened.
RIP.
Other press sites show photos of the scene. Looks like a junction on a fairly wide and clear highway. Collision sounds nasty
Tragic.
This is how the main stream media reprot
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/champion-cyclist-mike-hall-killed-in-accident-during-indian-pacific-wheel-race-20170330-gvaj79.html
RIP Mike, the cycling community's thought are with his family and friends. Terrible news for them to deal with, but at least he was doing something he loved when he passed away.
Bugger ...
RIP Mike, condolences to all .....
Oh.
Bugger.
RIP and condolences to family
Confirmed now. Absolutely terrible. RIP to an absolute legend.
RIP and condolences to Mike's friends, family and fellow competitors on the IPWR.
What horrible news. Very sad day for his family and for cycling.
No mistake, unfortunately - it's been pretty widely reported over here.
Oh shit no... Just awful in every way.
Fuck this, just no. Still a chance there's some mistake.
the only possible mistake is the identity, not the severity of the outcome. Someone out there has lost a loved one and in all likelihood we already know who. RIP
Christ. Rip.
Such sad news. RIP Mike Hall
Race now cancelled, which sort of confirms the situation. Very sad day for cycling.