Video: Photographer’s near-miss with race moto at the Pan Am Games men’s road race in Toronto
Let it never be said that covering bike races as a journalist doesn't carry its share of risks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kpVEyTZrLQyc
Let it never be said that covering bike races as a journalist doesn’t carry its share of risks.
At the Pan Am Games men’s road race on Saturday, July 25, the bikes of top world athletes weren’t the only two-wheeled vehicles on the circuit. Following along, as always, were the motorbikes carrying race officials, media and other personnel, tracing the same route, and subject to the same risk of mishaps — as the moto following the race through High Park learned the hard way.
Coming through that 180-degree turn at the bottom of the Olympus climb in High Park, the moto appeared to slow down just a bit too much as it navigated through. The driver lost his balance, gravity took over, and the bike went down, landing hard on its left side.
The bike also came close to hitting photographer Aidas Odonelis, shooting coverage with Ruby Photo Studio for Canadian Cycling Magazine, as it fell. You can see the moment in the above video at 0:41 seconds. Odonelis is seated on the curb, waiting to get a shot of the race, and darts out of the way just in time to not get whacked by the motorbike toppling behind him. Nobody was harmed, of course, but you can imagine that the moto might have gotten a bit scuffed up.
Police and others rushed across the road to clear the scene, and just in time to miss the racers bearing down on them toward the switchback.
Check out the video, and remember that it’s not always the thrill of the race or the chance to get into the heads of Canada’s top riders that tests cycling journalists. There’s always, lingering just under the surface, the chance that you might also get flattened by a motorbike, too.
Odonelis’s work at the Toronto Pan Am Games, meanwhile, can be viewed in our published galleries, like this one from the race in question.
