September 15/06 10:04 am - Accident Survivor Posts Blog of His Experience

Posted by Editoress on 09/15/06
 

Courtesy Doug Detwiller, Sprockids

Below is a link to stories about two young racers Sean, aged 16 yrs and Matt, aged 20 yrs. Both of these young racers are super great kids who have gone through the Sprockids Program and are now very dedicated and up and coming XC racers. This spring Sean was chosen to be on the B.C. Provincial Team to race at the Canadian National Championships. Out of the 12 racers chosen to represent B.C. 5 riders were from the Sunshine Coast. Matt had just graduated from high school and this was his first year riding as a Pro racer.

Like all mountain and road cyclists they had to do a lot of their endurance training on the road. It is an interesting situation where most sports pour millions of dollars into training facilities, but in cycling we send our athletes out onto the streets and highways to train in a very hostile and dangerous environment. This whole concept just seems rather surreal.

On July 5th they were hit from behind by a vehicle doing 90 kilometres. Sean was launched over the car and Matt was pulled underneath. Both boys survived and are making a remarkable recovery. Sean and Matt know they have been given a second chance and also realize they are in a very unique position to share their story with younger riders. I am working with them to do this in a variety of ways.

Check out the article about the accident at www.sprockids.com

As part of his healing process, and as a way of getting his message out to other cyclist about road awareness and safety Matt is writing about his ordeal. His story is a very honest and moving account of something I hope none of us will ever have to experience. I have posted his first installment on our web site at
www.sprockids.com