Veteran race cyclist died after falling on oil slick, inquest hears

A veteran racing cyclist was killed after he lost control of his bicycle in “impossible conditions” on a 60m oil slick in Co Wicklow, an inquest has heard.

Dermot McGrath (75) of Woodland Drive, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, died at St Vincent’s Hospital nine days after coming off his bicycle on Slaughter Hill, Newtownmountkennedy, on November 4th, 2014.

The Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard Mr McGrath – who was a yellow jersey holder in 1962 of the Rás, Ireland’s leading stage race, and a member of Bray Wheelers cycling club - was cycling down the hill with friends Stephen Gallagher, Brendan McAllister, and John McElroy when they found themselves on an oil slick.

Mr Gallagher told the inquest the men were travelling in single file at approximately 25km/h.

Mr McElroy, who was travelling behind Mr McGrath, said he saw Mr McGrath, who was wearing a helmet, initially regain control of his bicycle after seeing his front wheel slip, but that the back wheel then also slipped and he came off and “hit the ground hard”.

Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said it seemed the general conditions for cycling were “good” but that the men “couldn’t see the oil slick” which led them to lose control of their bicycles “to varying degrees”.

Mr Gallagher said the men “would have descended Slaughter Hill on many occasions and never encountered such conditions”. He added they were “impossible to cycle on”.

A statement by Ian Thompson, the advanced paramedic with the HSE ambulance crew that attended the scene, said they were notified of the incident at 11.52am and arrived at the scene at 12.10pm to find Mr McGrath sitting on a grass bank bleeding from the head and face.

Mr Thompson said he was conscious but not communicating properly. He was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with a “moderate traumatic brain injury”.

Barbara McGrath, Mr McGrath’s daughter, told the inquest that over the following days her father’s condition “varied” but there was “no significant improvement”.

She said that on November 13th, his condition worsened. “He was sitting up, which was a good sign, but I quickly realised he was conscious in a blind and deaf tunnel,” she said. “He was no longer responding to external stimuli.”

The inquest heard Mr McGrath went into cardiac arrest and following three rounds of unsuccessful CPR, he was pronounced dead at 10.20pm.

An autopsy the following day found Mr MrGrath had suffered from severe cranial trauma, laceration and bruising of the brain, secondary swelling to the brain, as well as fractured ribs.

Ms McGrath told Dr Farrell her father had no history of heart disease and was “in tip-top shape” prior to the incident.

A verdict of death by misadventure was recorded due to the “significant risk factors” involving the oil slick.

Speaking afterwards, Mc McGrath’s friends said two of them had separately reported the oil slick to Wicklow County Council by telephone on the day of the incident, but no warning signs were erected until two days later when they contacted Traffic Watch, which contacted the Garda, which then again contacted the council.

Garda Gavin Colfer told the inquest no garda attended the scene on the day of the incident and no information explaining the presence of the oil slick had come to light. There were however “no suspicious circumstances”.

The jury also recommended Wicklow County Council be contacted and asked to re-evaluate its procedures for dealing with the public’s reporting of dangerous road conditions.