another charity cyclist dies

from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.

MartinM wrote:
from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.


Yes I was running the Great North Run and there did appear to be rather a
lot of people needing attention at the side of the road.

It was a hot day as well which didn't help.


Sam Salt

"Sam Salt" wrote in message
...
MartinM wrote:
from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.


Yes I was running the Great North Run and there did appear to be rather a
lot of people needing attention at the side of the road.

It was a hot day as well which didn't help.

Four people died on the Great North ...

However I'm a little surprised at the OP's comment "lessons to be learned
from these events". What lessons can be learnt from this? Every policeman I
know is in good condition, and I'm presuming that this guy was just from his
age. He also had 55 qualified first aiders with him. I cannot take any
lessons from this.

However I'm a little surprised at the OP's comment "lessons to be
learned from these events".

Defibs and first aiders trained to use them? Measures taken to provide a
faster response from people in trouble? More water stops on hot days?
Good advice given on health and fitness well in advance of the race (I
think the organisers of the London marathon do this)...

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 10:30:22 +0000, Mark Thompson wrote:

However I'm a little surprised at the OP's comment "lessons to be
learned from these events".

Defibs and first aiders trained to use them?

Dunno about defibs specifically, but there were a lot of first-aiders
around and they had a lot of kit spread about them.

Measures taken to provide a faster response from people in trouble?

They say the ambulances took quite a while to reach one person. There was
one part of the course where we all moved to the left to allow an
ambulance to pass - not ideal, but there are side roads along much of
the course so access seemed pretty good.

More water stops on hot days?

But not many more - overhydration as bad as dehydration. Close to the
front-runners, there was water to spare though I thought the showers could
have been turned up a bit higher.

Good advice given on health and fitness well in advance of the race (I
think the organisers of the London marathon do this)...

They sent out an information pack. I didn't read it in detail this year,
but in previous years it had training schedules etc.

There's always room for improvement and I guess these things are difficult
to evaluate from the outside, but my impression was that the event was
generally very well organised. The Guardian says there have been 8 deaths
over the last 24 years, which is proportionately less than yesterday
even taking into account there are more competitors now. It's tragic that
so many people died yesterday, but given the numbers are so small I'm not
sure how much significance one should read into it (statistical noise).

Yesterday's lesson for me was that cycling isn't good training for
running. Cycling is completely painless and I could still cruise along at
20 the afternoon after the race, but up and down stairs is quite shaky.

AC

elyob wrote:
"Sam Salt" wrote in message
...

MartinM wrote:

from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.


Yes I was running the Great North Run and there did appear to be rather a
lot of people needing attention at the side of the road.

It was a hot day as well which didn't help.


Four people died on the Great North ...

However I'm a little surprised at the OP's comment "lessons to be learned
from these events". What lessons can be learnt from this? Every policeman I
know is in good condition, and I'm presuming that this guy was just from his
age. He also had 55 qualified first aiders with him. I cannot take any
lessons from this.



You guys must have healthier policemen.
I have met several who could not conceivably pass any fitness test.
And at least one who had heart attack writted all over him. Which
reminds me, its been two years I must check and see if he is still alive .

elyob wrote:
"Sam Salt" wrote in message
...
MartinM wrote:
from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.


Yes I was running the Great North Run and there did appear to be rather a
lot of people needing attention at the side of the road.

It was a hot day as well which didn't help.

Four people died on the Great North ...

However I'm a little surprised at the OP's comment "lessons to be learned
from these events". What lessons can be learnt from this? Every policeman I
know is in good condition, and I'm presuming that this guy was just from his
age. He also had 55 qualified first aiders with him. I cannot take any
lessons from this.

I was absolutely not passing any comments about the individual event;
it was as we all agree a very sad occurnce; in fact the Metro carried a
headline about the Great North fatalities which was along the lines of
the "health risks" in doing this sort of thing which I do not subscribe
to either.

elyob wrote:


However I'm a little surprised at the OP's comment "lessons to be learned
from these events". What lessons can be learnt from this? Every policeman I
know is in good condition, and I'm presuming that this guy was just from his
age.

37 is not a particularly old age to be dying after about 50 miles on a
bike; but to be fair I have known younger men suffer heart attacks
without riding a bike.

Sam Salt wrote:
MartinM wrote:
from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.


Yes I was running the Great North Run and there did appear to be rather a
lot of people needing attention at the side of the road.

It was a hot day as well which didn't help.


There is no doubt that you are at greater risk of dying during exercise
than when resting but the exercise improves your life expectancy
overall. Assuming the GNR was a two hour event, that death rate is
about 24 times the background death rate in a normal population of that
size and this was an exceptional year.

There are questions though in my mind about these endurance events for
people who are basically not acclimatised to them. Lots train but lots
skimp on the training too.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 11:35:33 +0100, Tony Raven wrote:

Sam Salt wrote:
MartinM wrote:
from the Metro;

"a 37 year old father of one police officer collapsed and died whilst
taking part in a 100 mile bike ride in North Devon. The rider was half
way through the event when he collapsed whilst riding up a steep hill.
The remaining 55 policemen on the ride decided to continue".

and on the same day 4 participants in the Great North Run also died.

whilst there are always lessons to be learned from these events it is
still a great tragedy for all the families concerned.


Yes I was running the Great North Run and there did appear to be rather a
lot of people needing attention at the side of the road.

It was a hot day as well which didn't help.


There is no doubt that you are at greater risk of dying during exercise
than when resting but the exercise improves your life expectancy
overall. Assuming the GNR was a two hour event, that death rate is
about 24 times the background death rate in a normal population of that
size and this was an exceptional year.

There are questions though in my mind about these endurance events for
people who are basically not acclimatised to them. Lots train but lots
skimp on the training too.

I ran the course in about 1hr 57mins (7000th/50000) and my impression was
that most (80%-90%)of the people I saw being resuscitated were 'elite'
runners who wear orange numbers to indicate they expect their time to be
1.35. I thought some of them looked pretty ill, but I was shocked and
upset to hear how many died.

It could well be that the people at the back of the course were as badly
affected, but it certainly wasn't only the unprepared who were having
problems.

AC