Magpie ends tour hopes for promising Kiwi cyclist

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times

HAT ATTACK: Injured Invercargill cyclist Simon Croom with his damaged helmet after being attacked by a magpie.

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Invercargill cyclist Simon Croom's Tour of Southland dreams and his hopes for next year's national elite time trial have been left in the same state as his left collarbone and shoulderblade after a run in with a magpie two weeks ago.

Croom was forced off the road at speed by the bully bird on West Plains Rd, on the outskirts of Invercargill, soon after leaving a training bunch.

He's now out of next month's Southland tour and in doubt for the elite time trial in January.

"I'm a bit worse for wear at the moment," Croom, who broke his left collarbone and shoulderblade, pulled muscles and suffered some nerve damage, said.

Croom was tacking an extra 30km onto a training ride when the magpie took an unwanted interest in his progress.

"He clipped me once and then I was looking around to see what was going on and he hit me again. I was well over the other side of the road and was just pulling myself back but then I hit the verge and down I went."

While Croom, like most cyclists who spend any length of time in the countryside, had had magpies sweep over him and even hit his helmet before, but had never struck anything this determined.

"You get one or two aggressive buggers who will scrape over the top of your helmet, but I've never had one hit me in the side of the head before."

Croom had recently returned from four months of training and racing in Europe with plans to attack the local road scene strongly.

He had hoped to improve on his 69th placing in last year's Tour of Southland by breaking into the top 50 and then have a real crack at the elite time trial early next year.

The Australian magpie, gymnorhina tibicen, is considered an aggressively territorial bird, with the male of the species becoming especially demonstrative during the nesting season from July to November.

Tricks for putting the black-and-white terrors off range from the practical – tying cable ties to the top of your helmet – to the bizarre – attacking a picture of a human face to the back of your helmet.

Magpies are included in Environment Southland's Regional Pest Management Strategy amongst the group of animals which need to be suppressed – along with things like hedgehogs, feral deer, rabbits and wasps.

Environment Southland bio-security officer Tim Riding said magpies were often a difficult bird to shoot, but free traps were available for landowners wanting to get rid of the pests.

- © Fairfax NZ News