Injured Shropshire mountain biker airlifted after SEVEN HOUR ordeal on hill
A mountain biker spent more than seven hours overnight on top of a hill with serious injuries after coming off his bike while cycling alone.
The cyclist, aged 31, decided to make the most of the light nights and warm weather by going for a ride up Corndon Hill, near his home in White Grit, a small village between Minsterley and and Bishop’s Castle.
He was not supposed to be gone long but when his mother, who also lives nearby, saw a light shining out from the hill more than an hour later, she said she had a gut feeling it was him and he was in trouble – and a rescue was launched.
The man, who has asked not to be named, was 1,600ft up the hill and suffered four broken vertebrae, broken ribs and a collapsed lung but it wasn’t until 5am that he was airlifted to Salford Royal Hospital.
His mother said she knew he had gone out at 9pm on Tuesday but when he had not returned after 10pm she feared the worst.
“I saw the light at about 10.10pm and instinct told me it was him,” she said. “I kept ringing and ringing him.
“The light was from his phone, he had probably already been lying there three quarters of an hour before I saw it.”
She said she even tried shouting to him, and eventually heard a call for help coming back. Her husband jumped in the car to find him, and she and a friend called emergency services before setting out after him, while another friend and his fiancée stayed at the house to meet mountain rescue teams from Brecon and Longtown, after which they all guided them to him by standing at points across the hill.
However, it wasn’t until hours later that they managed to get a helicopter to him.
The cyclist’s mother said: “Everybody has been brilliant but we do have one gripe, which is that they just wouldn’t OK an air ambulance because of protocol. He could have been airlifted much sooner.”
She said her son was seriously injured and still undergoing treatment, but she was grateful the accident wasn’t worse.
A spokesman for Longtown Mountain Rescue Team, said: “Low cloud meant the Maritime and Coastguard Agency helicopter from St Athan landed off the hill, meaning a long and steep carry off. The casualty was flown to hospital, in Manchester. We wish him a speedy recovery.”
