Crash ends 'beauty and beast' duel

Nikki Kaye. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Excitement over an upcoming parliamentary cycle race dubbed "beauty versus the beast" has been dashed by National MP Nikki Kaye, who has crashed and broken an ankle.

Central Auckland MP Ms Kaye was due to square off against senior Labour MP Trevor Mallard in the upcoming race around Lake Taupo. They and other MPs have been in intensive training , but it all ended in tears for Ms Kaye. Ms Kaye said a car had moved close to her, so she had swerved to avoid it but crashed with her foot locked into the pedal. She was expected to be in plaster and on crutches for up to six weeks.

She had to be driven to Tauranga to give a speech yesterday, but intended to continue with constituency duties, making some amendments to ensure she did not worsen the injury.

She and Mr Mallard had exchanged sympathetic emails.

Some around Parliament joked Mr Mallard had knobbled Ms Kaye as he feared defeat by a younger MP, but Labour MPs insisted he was nowhere near the accident scene. Conversely, Ms Kaye strenuously denied any allegation she had taken a dive to avoid defeat.

Ms Kaye said she was not sure she would have been beaten Mr Mallard, as he had been training hard.

- NZPA