From page 2 of the Bendigo Advertiser this morning.
ORIENTEERING CHAMP HIT BY CAR, PUNCHED
Townsville - An Australian orienteering champion was punched in the head moments after being hit by a car during a training session in far North Queensland.
World-ranked orienteering competitor Troy de Haas was running on Lake Tinaroo , on the Atheron Tableslands when he was run off the road and had his elbow chipped by the side mirror of a utility.
A shocked de Haas said he was then punched in the head by the driver of theutility who stopped, you hit my mirror idiot before cutting in front of the runner.
"He was upset and looked like he wanted an apology after he hit me with his mirror"
"But I was in the right and wasn't going to give that to him"
"Then i got this king hit to the side of my head and crashed to the ground"
Dazed and concerned for his safety, Cairns-based de Haas maintained his wits and took down the utility's number plate before returning to a relative's holiday house on the lake where Atheron police interviewed him.
Investigations into the incident are continuing.
De Haas said he was shocked that such a brazen attack could occur in regional North Queensland.
The attack was the latest bizarre incident in De Haas's colorful athletic career.
The 27 year old who is also a world rated endurance runner, was attacked by a monket chasing an energy bar from his back pack in Hong Kong last year.
It follows previous attacks by ducks, emus and kangaroos in Australia. He was also chased by a sickle weilding elderly woman in omania after accidentally traversing her property.
AAP
Here follows gratutious comment.
Surprised that it happened in regional north Queensland. If I had to pick anywhere in Australia for this to happen, north Queensland would be near the top of the list!
Good thing De Haas hasn't been to Wyoming. The attack badger wouldn't show such mercy!
Far out that sounds nasty, that article sounds like it could be the work of one Rod Domonish.
I'm not surprised at all. North Queensland and South Texas have certain similarities. But attack badgers ? - puhleese!
When training in South Texas I regularly had pickups veer off the road in my direction, to the point that I stopped running alongside roads. The rattlers and water moccasins are friendly compared to a red neck in a pickup.
That is what I first thought??
Talking about Rod, did you notice he made the news? the other day
http://www.orienteering.asn.au/news/?ItemID=1178
When was Troy attacked by ducks? Has he been watching too much Hitchcock?
was troy only in the bendigo advertiser or did he make other papers as well?
I only read the Bendigo Advertiser. I'm a local yokel.
...when he was run off the road and had his elbow chipped by the side mirror of a utility. A shocked de Haas said he was then punched in the head by the driver of the utility who stopped, you hit my mirror idiot...
And I thought that it was only American SUV drivers who had the gall to chase runners/cyclists/babycarriages off the road...and then jump out and assault them as well.
The duck incident was when we were in belgium for some world cups a few years back but it was nothing really.
Typical tdh, runs away from ducks but stands right up to an angry redneck in a ute - i would have bolted the other way. Good onya Troyzee.
This reminds me of an incident that happened to a co-worker of mine. He was assaulted by a guy who decided to stop taking his medications.
The question is who had the higher IQ - the monkey or the ute driver. My money's on the monkey.
So they even have a phrase for this phenonena in north Queensland..."Hit and thump". Obviously Troy isn't the first. And to think we have been terrorising the non-Oz JWOC aspirants with tales of snakes and drop bears. We didn't even think of North Queenslanders! Who is going to start that thread?
Are those traditional North Queensland trousers?
yes they are made of blue-ringed octopus skin. if they dont skin the octopus correctly you can die within minutes of first putting them on.
Its not just up north - the Qld yobbo has a fairly wide distribution across the state. We encountered a particularly angry one (complete with mullet, flannie and driving an early 90s commodore) very close to the NSW border last saturday on our morning ride. He obviously considered it his duty to erradicate all lycra-wearing cycling scum from the face of the earth. After a couple of very fast and close drive-bys, showering us with gravel and lots of screaming he stopped just up the road and started digging around under the front seat. At that point we were all getting rather concerned about what he might be looking for. Fortunately though, he seemed to decide that as there was only one of him and lots of us, his odds weren't too good and drove off.
I can't believe QLD is so hostile. I traveled up to Surfers' Paradise many years ago, and found nothing more hostile than a carpet-bagger steak.
During the six months I lived near Sydney, I loved to run over to one of the beautiful 50m outdoor swimming pools you have all over the suburbs, go for a swim, and then jog back to my hotel. Never encountered any hostility...but plenty of choice comments. And this was during the '70's when the running boom still hadn't reached Australia.
Most Queenslanders are really friendly of course, its just the occasional drug-fucked, inbred wanker that insists on imposing his shitty existence on everyone else.
That was the first serious road rage incident I've encountered around here, but it can certainly leave a nasty impression (especially in troy's case).
poor luke harrop found out about "drug-fucked, inbred wankers" from queensland the hard way... and she was so drug fucked she got away with it. hopefully troys solicitors get this dan's mowing clown in the ute some hard time in the stocks!
I thought the person who ran over Luke Harrop did get some jail time? (although nowhere near enough).
We get the 'Queensland Country Life' newspaper at work. The letters page makes interesting reading - there are some scary, scary people out there....
To continue this Aussie thread. "Thorpedo retires from competitive swimming. Wants more balance in his life."
Hmm, orienteering?
This discussion thread is closed.