Nat Bromhead
The cycling world is in mourning after the shock news that veteran paracyclist Kieran Modra has been killed while cycling near Adelaide today.
Modra, a 47yo father of three, is one of the nation’s most experienced Paralympian and Commonwealth Games athletes having represented his country for three decades at countless National and International events.
Visually impaired since birth, he excelled primarily in tandem events and also in the pool where his speciality was backstroke.
Modra’s palmares include 5 Paralympic Gold medals between 1996 and 2012, and a host of other major wins and placings at Commonwealth and World Championship level.
He was pronounced deceased at the scene after being hit by a vehicle at Kingsford, near Gawler, on the Sturt Highway near Adelaide earlier today.
A recipient of the Order of Australia, Modra had also received the following major awards –
- 2000: Australian Sports Medal.
- 2004: Australian Male Paralympian of the Year.
- 2011: South Australian Institute of Sport Athlete with a Disability of the Year with Scott McPhee.
- 2014: Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Australia Day Honours “For significant service to sport as an athlete representing Australia at Paralympic Games, and to people who are blind or have low vision”
- 2014: South Australian Institute of Sport Male Athlete with a Disability of the Year.
South Australian police have reported they are investigating the cause of the Modra’s death.
SA Police Media later released a statement that read –
‘Just after 7am today (Wednesday 13 November), police and emergency services were called to the Sturt Highway just south-west of Argent Road, after a Kia sedan travelling north-east collided with a cyclist travelling in the same direction.
The rider, a 47-year-old man from Hallett Cove sadly died at the scene. The driver of the Kia, a 26-year-old man from Greenwith, was not injured but was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital as a precaution.
The Sturt Highway was closed for sometime but has since reopened to all traffic.
The man’s death takes the State’s road toll to 97 as compared to 63 for the same time last year.’
Bicycling Australia share the grief of the wider cycling community, and offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to the Modra family and friends.
