Hit-and-run blow to cycling champion

Gordon McCauley. File picture / Wanganui Chronicle

The Commonwealth Games dreams of cycling champion Gordon McCauley are in tatters after a hit-and-run road crash left him with a broken wrist and facial injuries.

Just 12 weeks out from the Games, McCauley is reviewing how he will train - but he is still determined he will bring home a medal.

"I still want to win a medal but the way I train is going to have to change," he said from Middlemore Hospital.

The road cycling champ was cycling from his Point Chevalier home in Auckland to a New Year's Eve party in Waihi when he was hit.

"I was just by Puhinui Rd when I felt this car come up beside me. It hit me and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, touching my face and wondering what had happened."

McCauley is convinced the hit was deliberate.

"There was no one else on the road and this car came so close it hit me. I was by myself and I was keeping left. This happens time and time again. It's unbelievable."

The accident ruined McCauley's plans to celebrate the New Year with his fiance Pamela Marshall, but both are counting themselves lucky.

Ms Marshall, who is a triathlete, said drivers needed to be more careful: "We are talking about a car with airbags and seatbelts taking on someone protected with skin and Lycra. Every time we go out on the bike there is the risk of something like this happening."

It's not the first time McCauley has been hit these holidays.

On Christmas morning he was clipped by a car wing mirror but managed to stay on his bike.

"That was another occasion I was on a quiet road - so much for Christmas spirit."

This time McCauley's bike was not so lucky. The $10,000 purpose-built bike is wrecked and at the Otahuhu police station being examined. Police are seeking any witnesses to the accident and any information about the white car that hit him.

McCauley is facing six weeks in a cast but is considering surgery to quicken the healing process.

"I'll be training on a stationary bike but I really need to get back on the road.

"With the Games 12 weeks away, this has really stuffed things up with training."

The Commonwealth Games are not the only big plans McCauley had for this year.

He and Ms Marshall plan to tie the knot in Las Vegas at an Elvis wedding chapel. "We'll have to see how his face heals," Ms Marshall said.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY