Editorial: Push for mandatory heart tests worthwhile

Greg Taipari

It is sad when someone young is taken from this world before he or she has reached full potential.

Rotorua cyclist Patrick Avery is a classic example of that.

He was a talented athlete who had the potential to be either a professional athlete or a world champion like his brother, Clinton, and sister, Monique.

At 18 he represented New Zealand in mountain biking, but in December last year, nearing the end of a 15-minute sprint race at the Eastgate Industrial Park, the talented cyclist fell from his bike.

Despite the valiant efforts of an off-duty fireman and members of the public performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the cyclist known affectionately as Paddy later died in hospital.

A post mortem examination revealed the cause of death as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a common cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.

In today's Rotorua Daily Post his father, Murray, and Clinton have said his death didn't have to happen and the family was now pushing for all high-performance athletes to undergo mandatory heart testing.

Murray, a former Commonwealth Games wrestler, said the inquest this week into his son's death was about trying to make sure something good came out of the loss.

At the inquest Monique, an international mountain biker and Xterra triathlete, said Patrick had more skill than both her and Clinton put together and could have been the best of them all if he had trained as hard as they did.

Unknown to Patrick or his family his medical condition was often the cause of the cyclist "hitting a wall" during racing, which often frustrated him and eventually caused the athlete to give up his dreams of competing seriously.

The family hopes that by making heart checks compulsory for athletes, it could save other families suffering the unbearable loss the Avery family and the Rotorua mountain biking community have had to go through.

I commend the family for trying to use the loss to help send an important message to other athletes.

Let's hope they heed the warning and those in authority look into making Patrick's death something more than just a tragic waste of a life.