Kangaroo and cyclists in high-speed crash caught on camera
A cyclist travelling at 65km/h was lucky to escape with only minor injuries after a kangaroo crashed into him, throwing the rider off his bike.
Footage shows how Martin Thurlby was cycling in a small group along a popular east Perth training route when the roo suddenly jumped onto the path from the bush alongside the road.
He was travelling about 65km/h along Kalamunda’s Zig Zag Trail with the group, when he was struck and was knocked off his bike. He said he had just “one second” to react.
The clip shows how Mr Thurlby hit the roo and went flying from his bike onto the road, causing another rider travelling close behind to crash over him, and fly over his handlebars.
The kangaroo was initially knocked down but appeared to hop away from the crash site while the injured pair lay on the ground.
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Despite the nasty fall at speed, Mr Thurlby managed to walk away with only some nasty gravel grazes on both elbows, forearms, shins and knees, although his mate Bruce was not so lucky.
Bruce received two fractured bones in his wrist during the incident, the West Australian reported.
Both riders reportedly broke their helmets, and Mr Thurlby will also need to replace a broken seat damaged in the fall.
The injuries set Bruce back three weeks, while Mr Thurlby was reportedly riding again four days later.
“To be able to walk away from a crash of that magnitude with no broken bones myself was pretty lucky,” Mr Thurlby said.
“I saw the roo out of the corner of my eye, and one of my friends captured it on video.
“It happened on a Saturday and all day Sunday I was reviewing the video frame by frame. I had one second from seeing the roo to impact.
“You hear about kangaroos on the road a bit in cycling communities but you never expect it.”
Up until the crash, believed to have happened late April, Mr Thurlby said he had never encountered a kangaroo on his bike, but has come across a few more since.
The incident follows an Australia Day mishap when a Queensland cyclist came off worse for wear when she collided with a kangaroo on a country road, near Boonah in the state’s southeast.
