Richie Cunningham Injured In Possible Road-Rage Incident

Top professional triathlete Richie Cunningham of Australia will miss the championship season due to injuries sustained in a bike accident on the 4th of July. Cunningham chatted with The Daily Camera about the incident.

Boulder triathlete Richie Cunningham was injured Thursday after he crashed his bike trying to avoid a car that Cunningham said appeared to purposely stop in front of him in a fit of road rage.

Cunningham and three other professional triathletes – Ben Hoffman, Patrick Evoe and Joe Gambles – set out for a ride along North 83rd Street Thursday at around 9 a.m. As the triathletes entered the 15000 block of 83rd Street near a downhill left-hand turn, Cunningham said a car passed them over a double-yellow line, honked its horn and “buzzed” them.

“It just went flying by as we were starting to go down the hill,” said Cunningham, who was at the head of the group. “Then halfway down the hill, all of a sudden he just slammed on the brakes.”

Cunningham said he tried to slow down and initially thought he could make it past the car to the inside. When it became clear that wasn’t an option, he was forced to brake hard.

“I just had nothing else to do,” he said. “It was either run up the back of him or brake harder. Once I braked I just flipped over the front of the handlebars.”

The car took off but Hoffman was able to chase the car and get a license plate number. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said the case is still under investigation and no tickets have been issued yet, but officials said they do have some basic information about the possible driver.

Read more: Dailycamera.com

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