Issues arise after mountainbiker hurt
Part of a Taranaki mountainbike track has been temporarily closed after a rider was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition at the weekend.
The rider is understood to have come off a wooden ramped feature called the ‘‘Serpent’’ at the Lake Mangamahoe track, near New Plymouth, on Sunday afternoon.
The Taranaki Rescue Helicopter flew the rider to Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. The hospital has been asked for an update on the rider’s condition.
Hamish Neale, president of New Plymouth Mountain Bikers, which manages the track, said its committee agreed to close the ‘‘Serpent’’ on Monday.
‘‘The feature will remain closed until we have conducted our investigation.
‘‘The rest of the park is open. We have not closed any tracks or forestry roads.’’
Mike Adair, base manager for the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust, said they were called to the track area a ‘‘good couple of times a year’’ for bike-related injuries.
‘‘It can be for head injuries or spinal concerns, mainly people who come off their bikes and their body goes into shock. Quite often we go out there and we conduct winch extractions.’’
Adair said because the bike track is surrounded by bush it could be difficult to land the helicopter.
‘‘We end up using the rescue hoist so that people can be looked after where they’ve taken a tumble, and we will come to them and lift them out.’’
The trust has a long-standing agreement with the New Plymouth District Council about where the helicopters can land.
The usual spot is in the nearby lake car park, but when that is full the helicopter will sometimes fly overhead.
‘‘Often we’ll winch a paramedic to the scene, and then they just need time to clinically assess and provide some treatment.’’
During Sunday’s call-out, an ambulance drove to where the patient was and took them to the intersection at Plantation Rd where the helicopter waited.
Asked whether the area should have a helicopter landing pad, Adair said: ‘‘It would be useful to have a central point there, but I don’t think fundamentally it’s going to mean that every single time we go there we’ll go to that landing zone.’’
Adair said landing was not the main issue for emergency services at the park.
There was also the lack of cellphone reception. ‘‘Quite often if someone comes across someone that’s injured or someone hurts themselves, they have to move away to then dial 111, and then it can be quite difficult to find out where the actual patient is.
‘‘If people are needing to do that, it’s always really useful to have as close an idea as they can about where the hurt person is.’’
A council spokesperson said there had been no request from the New Plymouth Mountain Bikers or the trust for a landing pad in the Lake Mangamahoe area.
‘‘It’s up to the pilot to make the call whether they think they can land safely, and it will depend on the emergency they are responding to.’’
The spokesperson said if a request was made, the council would need to consider ‘‘lots of different things’’ including ‘‘what the actual need is’’.
The discussions would include whether a pad is practical and the longterm or operational maintenance costs.