By Don Farmer
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A stricken Whanganui cyclist who collapsed and to all intents and purposes died during racing in Masterton on Sunday owes his life to a fellow rider who knew CPR.
Phil Sutherland, of Masterton, pulled out of a North Island criterium race at Masterton Motorplex when he spied the rider laying to the side of the track with a mate looking over him.
“I put my bike down and went over to him and felt for a pulse, I couldn’t find one., and he wasn’t breathing.
“I rolled him over and pumped his chest and started CPR which I had learned a few years ago but hadn’t had to use before,” Mr Sutherland
Others soon arrived including a Masterton doctor who was also racing and had himself crashed, injuring his collarbone.
Ambulance staff had been attending to yet another rider suffering from a crushed finger when handlebars jammed against a concrete wall but came to the aid of the cardiac arrest victim Paul Forrest.
Mr Sutherland said they “put the paddles on him” and after a series of shocks and adrenalin being administered a heart beat returned.
Masterton Motorplex has been given the thumbs up as an ideal circuit for cycle racing after a highly successful day of racing on Sunday.
Race two of the Trust House North Island Series featured a criterium race for the first time before riders completed the second race of the day from Masterton to Martinborough and return.
Race organiser Jorge Sandoval said using the Motorplex circuit had proved very successful for both organisers and riders.
“Everyone endorsed the circuit, it was fantastic for spectators who could see the riders going around the circuit from many vantage points,” he said.
The day turned out to be one of triumph for 2015 World Junior Champion Luke Mudgway, of Palmerston North, who took line honours in the criterium elite race.
Craig Domigan, of Gisborne, took out the Masters One race with Wellington Matt Sharland in second place and Masters Two was won by Adam Rigby, of Wellington, with cycling legend Gary Anderson in second place.
The second race of the day from Masterton to Martinborough via Gladstone and Ponatahi was held in perfect weather.
The flat terrain greeted the cyclists with distances of 142km for the elite riders and 95km for Masters riders.
Riders on the men’s elite were the first to go and action started almost straight away with attacks but was controlled by the stronger teams in the first 20-30km.
With 43km to go a group of five riders broke clear of the pack and with all teams represented in the break, the peloton was happy to let them go.
Their advantage quickly grew to one minute with riders back in the main bunch trying desperately to close the gap.
With five kilometres to go the leader group was only three riders being Josh Page, of Napier, Alex West (Palmerston North) and David Weaver (Wellington).
The three riders worked well sharing the work load for the break until one kilometre to go when they started attacking each other.
Page attacked the others with 800m to go, sprinting into the headwind to take the race with West second and Weaver third with the bunch a further three minutes behind.
Page was happy with his result.
“I been trying for years to win one of Jorge’s races, I did it today,” he said.
“Such a hard race showed me I am in good form and I was stoked to be in the break, mixing it up with other top riders.”
The field in the Masters One grade was won by Christchurch Scott McDonnell with Gisborne Craig Domigan second and Wellington Steve Bale in third place.
Masters Two was made up of 67 riders and Hastings rider Chris Clark surprised everyone by attacking the bunch and riding on his own for the last 12km to win the race one minute in front of the bunch of about 40 riders.
Race Three will be in two weeks’ time with riders asked to complete seven laps of the Carrington circuit in Carterton on October 30.
Riders will race in a 17km circuit that includes 2km of gravel road, something that is very popular in Europe with races using gravel roads for many international cycling events.
