Racing Fatality

oldhairylegs

Truly dreadful news from Sunday's race at the Mountbatten circuit in Portsmouth:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/a ... n-Centre-0

Thoughts and condolences to Richard's family and those that were involved in this awful incident.

maryka

Yes pretty terrible and quite uncommon at a closed circuit race to have a fatality.

There hasn't been a lot of info forthcoming about what happened, does anyone know if it was a crash, or what exactly?

I seem to recall Portsmouth circuits had a nasty crash last year at the finish line of the 4th cat race leaving one fellow in very bad shape.

brownbosh

Crashes at mountbatten not unusual in the lower cats with nasty injuries but this was in the E12. Knew Rich at work and on bike and he was an all round good guy. There was a bunching on one side of the track and he was caught out on the barriers which are pretty poor for cycling. Terrible, everyone who knew him is sick to the stomach at the loss and I cant even imagine how his family feel. RIP fella.

triboy222

Rest in peace Rich. Thoughts with the family & friends plus any of the riders/spectators affected by this terrible tragedy. I've raced at Mountbatten a fair few times in the past & thought them well organised. Poor, poor guy.

Pross

Isn't Mountbatten just a big oval track? You would think it would be about as safe as a race can be. My sympathies to family and friends.

DavidJB

Pross wrote:

Isn't Mountbatten just a big oval track? You would think it would be about as safe as a race can be. My sympathies to family and friends.

Hi Pross,

The race was relatively slow and lots of fresh legs with 45 riders in the final lap. Unfortunately at MB there are metal railings with no run off penning in the track. The bunch ran out of space and the accident happened. I didn't manage to avoid it but escaped with only minor injuries.

I felt sick to my stomach when I heard yesterday.

R.I.P Richard.

thomasmorris

I was in the crash and went over the bars. As I recall it I was probably second or third to fall, but it happened very quickly. I was part of a line coming over the top on the outside, and presumably someone wobbled or moved up from the inside and we just got put in the barriers. It was immediately obvious it was a very bad crash and I had been extremely lucky to walk away.

In my experience the track is pretty safe in the E/1/2 as fields are around 20 and once a few attacks go there isn't much shelter so it all breaks up. With a larger field though there's just more shelter and more fresh legs. Whilst people bemoan the riding in the lower categories, i think this is what keeps the 3rd and 4ths together.

Another contributing factor is the lack of a dominant team in the final laps. Most people only had one or two teammates and were therefore riding for themselves. Without 4/5 really super strong riders prepared sacrifice their race to string out the pack at 55kmh for the last few minutes you end up with the pack swarming a over the top in the finale and people trying to move out who have become boxed in.

Additionally, Mountbatten has a metal railing with upright posts on the outside of the track along the home straight and two banked bends. These are there to keep spectators away, however, it seems smooth advertising boards at velodromes would limit the snagging effect. Whilst people may still fall it could allow bikes and people to slide to a stop in a more controlled manner. I must say however, I didn't see whether Richard or any of the other injured cyclists actually hit an upright post and therefore don't know for sure that this was a cause of any injuries.

I'm sure the circumstances the crash will be investigated, and I hope some lessons can be learnt from this tragic loss. In the meantime my thoughts are with Richard's family, friends, colleagues, fellow racers and the event organisers. I didn't know Richard other than recognizing his face from races, but it's evident from reports today and yesterday that he was an outstanding person and will be truly missed.

Omar Little

Sad news, RIP

maryka

So the question to me becomes (having never raced at this circuit) is the circuit fit for purpose? Fencing and metal posts sounds a bit scary to me.

Crystal Palace in recent years has had armco barriers put up temporarily for car racing and that always means cycle racing is either not on or raced in the opposite direction where the barriers are away from the racing line and unlikely to cause a problem. Be interested to see the risk assessment for Mountbatten circuit as it seems like when there's a crash there and the fencing is involved, it's a very bad crash. Hopefully BC and the relevant authorities take a full look at this and fix it or stop racing there.

DeVlaeminck

Very sad for the friends and family and a tragic loss of life doing something we all love.

Google images of the circuit show what I presume are the railings.

Rodrego Hernandez

Whilst this is a terrible tragedy it is the 4th fatality in a year in road racing.

The races are the same, the circuits are the same but the general standard of racing had got much worse. BC really need to look at this and all competitors need to realise that this is meant to be a fun sport, not something worth getting seriously injured or worse in.

maryka

Rodrego Hernandez wrote:

Whilst this is a terrible tragedy it is the 4th fatality in a year in road racing.

The races are the same, the circuits are the same but the general standard of racing had got much worse. BC really need to look at this and all competitors need to realise that this is meant to be a fun sport, not something worth getting seriously injured or worse in.

With all due respect, one of those 4 fatalities was a NEG outrider, not a cycle racer. I don't know the circumstances of that (did the riders force him to be on the wrong side of the road on a bend with their riding?) so I don't know if that 4th fatality could be considered a "riding standard" issue? But yes, the other three were racers, 2 of which were on the wrong side of the road and hit oncoming cars I believe. So that's definitely a riding standard issue.

olake92

I presume there is still an inquest into the death at the SERRL, as I haven't been informed of any outcome and I asked to be. However, as I was right next to him I can offer some first hand evidence; the NEG rider simply overtook the bunch on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend. There was no reason to do so and the riders certainly didn't force him to. Think of the NEG death as a standard RTC. I don't know whether the other deaths were related to riding standards, but this one wasn't.

In my opinion, racing standards have improved since the first death, at the Severn Bridge RR. Riders seem to look out for each other more.

wallace_and_gromit

Terrible news. My sympathies to family, friends and all those involved.

marcusjb

Truly awful. My thoughts are with the family and friends of Richard.

I, personally, don't think this is an appropriate thread to discuss riding standards and the like.

DeVlaeminck

The thing about riding standards is at least two of these deaths have been in higher cat road racing, I don't know about the third. I know riding standards are poor in many lower cat races but are they similarly lacking in the higher cats?

okgo

Accidents happen. There are daily crashes in pro tour racing and those lot know what they're doing.

Rip Richard.

DeVlaeminck

Sadly another fatality this weekend - this time in the Stourbridge Velo time trial - the reports I have heard are that no other vehicles were involved.

gincs1975

Dear all. This is specifically for DavidJB and ThomasMorris but also anyone else who is familiar with the racing at Mountbatten or with significant experience of closed circuit racing generally (brownbosh?). I represent a rider who sustained life-changing brain injures in a Cat 4 race at Mountbatten in October 2012. From what Thomas reports in this forum, despite this being an E1/2 race, it appears the circumstances of the 2 incidents are very similar. Whilst it would be inappropriate to discuss the issues further over a public forum, my email is provided and private contact would be greatly appreciated.

gincs1975

Thank you to those who emailed me on this. Unfortunately I am unable to reply without a direct email address and so would be grateful if you could inbox me with one.

okgo

Can you give the rest of us a basic idea as to the issue with this track? I think it would be beneficial to racing members to know what lies at the heart of these terrible injuries?

Or is it as said, the fence and posts round the outside?