Disturbing fishing wire 'trap' leaves Aussie runner with painful injury
The shocking incident on a popular running and cycling track has been reported to authorities.
A young woman out for a run was left with injuries to her neck after running straight into fishing line strung up between two trees across the track at the "neckline".
Social media influencer Leesh Cunningham was on her morning run in Killarney Vale, on the NSW Central Coast, at 5.30am on Thursday when the light coming from her running light strapped to her leg bounced off something strange ahead. Realising it looked like some sort of "trap" and she needed to stop, Cunningham tried to slow down while putting her hand up in front of her.
"I saw it, but because I was running I didn't have enough time to stop," she told Yahoo News Australia. "So it still hit me, but if I hadn't seen it at all that would have done so much more damage".
As it happened, Cunningham revealed she was terrified someone was waiting to jump out. "I was like frantically looking and yelling just in case there was someone there," she said.
Following the incident, Cunningham sustained a bruise across her neck. She then ran into someone she knew on the path who helped her to remove the "thick" line, which she says was crossed around the trees three times.
"There were so many people that I had passed before, so whether somebody else had seen it and avoided it?" Cunningham questioned. "Imagine if that was a cyclist — that's what kept going through my head."
Cunningham has reported the incident to police through Crime Stoppers NSW. Yahoo has reached out to NSW Police and the Central Coast Council for comment.
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Shocking stories of similar incidents in the area
Of the hundreds of comments Leesh received since sharing her terrifying ordeal online, many people have shared how "often" this is done along the Central Coast, NSW and across the country
"This happens way too often around here, I think I know the spot," one person said. "They do barb wire here on the Gold Coast," another responded.
"It's crazy the number of stories people are sharing, not only in the comments but people that I know, that it's actually happened to in the area as well," Cunningham said of the responses.
Central Coast Council told Yahoo community members should contact the police immediately they see anyone conducting illegal activity like this or if they receive injury from the result of such activity. "If Council is made aware of a safety issue like this incident on Council land, we will make it safe as soon as possible," they said.
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