Hundreds turn out to farewell motocross hero
MORE than 700 family members and friends attended Kiwi hero Richard Ebbett’s funeral yesterday.
Ebbett’s body was found a week ago after he fell into Mt Ruapehu’s crater lake and died during an expedition on Whakapapa ski field.
The 39-year-old outdoor enthusiast, known as Richie, was farewelled during a ceremony at Palmerston North’s Awapuni Racecourse.
One of the people in attendance was Jessie King, 19, whose life Ebbett saved 16 years ago in 2001.
The motocross fan was hailed a hero when he rushed to the aid of four children after a tractor crashed into a ditch, killing the driver.
King, her two brothers now aged 24 and 18, and their cousin had been travelling in a trailor being pulled by the tractor and Ebbett, who was coming back from a motocross event in Kawhia, had freed two of the children trapped in the trailer and rescued an 18-month-old who was face-down into a drain.
King attended the funeral with her siblings and partner to pay her respects to the man who saved her life.
She said she was not sure whether the 18-month-old had been her or her younger brother Julian, but said Ebbett had saved all the kids’ lives that day.
She never got to say thank you to her hero. However, she wanted to attend his funeral to pay her respects, she said. thrown
‘‘I would have given him a big hug and said thank you. Thank you for being there at the right time.’’
The theme of Ebbett as a hero kept resurfacing throughout the three-hour ceremony as various friends paid tribute to him.
His father Harvey thanked the people who had scaled Ruapehu to search for Ebbett. The family had been astonished the support they had received.