The moment an Irish cyclist was sent crashing to the ground hard after a large stag running across the road hit him (Photo: Erik Scraggs)
This is the moment a photographer captured the image of a stag knocking a cyclist clean off his bike during the Dublin City Triathlon.
Photographer Erik Scraggs captured the impact in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, yesterday where large numbers of deer roam around usually without incident.
But when the cycling leg of the triathlon passed through the park, competitor Shane O’Reilly had the misfortunate off meeting the stag head on and hard.
The 30-year-old from Blackrock, Dublin, got back up on his bike and finished the race but he said he was shaken by the experience and believed his helmet had saved his life.
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"The helmet definitely saved me. Apart from that, my shoulder was a bit sore and I had a headache,” he said.
Scraggs photo has been making the news around the world and he explained to the BBC how he had captured the image.
"As I was standing waiting for a group of cyclists to approach, I heard a rustling behind me and I turned to see a couple of stags ruining parallel to the road.
"I had a feeling they might make their way across the cyclists' path, so I tracked them though my lens. I never envisaged that they would actually try and leap over the cyclists.
"It all happened so fast. It was a really heavy crash. It was a relief to see the competitor get back to his feet and continue."
The stage is one of about 500 deer in the park and it is believe it was not seriously injured in the incident.
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