On the second lap of the final stage, George was trying on his own to bridge a gap to the winning break (as it turned out) when he was involved in a freak accident. At the mini-roundabout in Ewhurst (the one which leads to Pitch Hill) our man was setting himself up for a fast left-hand turn to continue his solo-chase through Ewhurst towards Ewhurst Green. A bike-rider completely unrelated to the race had just decended from the direction of Pitch Hill and turned left at speed, running a bit wide in the process and in to George's path. Both riders collided head-on.
The race nurse attended to George at the scene - and I was pleased to hear over the race radio that he was considered walking wounded (I was helping Surrey League's Ray Betts to provide neutral service).
At the end of the race, George was back at the HQ - I guess he rode back himelf - but was pretty uncomfortable with a few worrying symptoms. The nurse was again asked to assess him and concluded again that he was basically OK, did not require an ambulance nor a neck brace - but recommended him to get a precautionary x-ray once he got home.
So George, myself and John Heaton-Armstrong (Fit-For) piled in to George's van, we drove him home, helped him unpack. When we looked at his helmet it was clear he has taken a big impact to the top of his head (i.e. through his neck) which made us a bit more concerned. Plus George is made from pretty hard stuff. We left him at home with a neighbour able to help him and waiting for his brother to arrive to take him to Mayday....for that precautionary x-ray. As per the other post, he actually has a nasty injury - a compression fracture to two vertebrae.
So that's pretty much the full story. After a superficial check over, George's beast of bike looks OK - but will need a professional check over to be sure. Hopefully that'll be one piece of good news.
Anyway as per the general post - get well soon George! I'm sorry if we weren't a little more sympathetic at the time!
