Dermot McGrath sustained a brain injury and died nine days later despite wearing a helmet when he crashed on a training ride in Co Wicklow (Photo: Brendan Culleton)
Former Rás stage winner and yellow jersey Dermot McGrath died of head injuries sustained in a training ride despite wearing a helmet when he crashed, an inquest into his death has been told.
Dermot, a member of the Bray Wheelers club, was out training with a number of others in Co Wicklow on Tuesday, November 4th, last year.
He crashed descending Slaughter Hill, between Newtownmountkennedy and Roundwood.
His condition was regarded as grave from the time of the crash, with Dermot placed on a respirator at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, south Dublin.
A well known figure in the Irish Veteran Cyclists’ Association (IVCA) and throughout the country in the height of his racing days, Dermot had suffered serious head injuries.
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He died in hospital surrounded by his family in hospital on Thursday, June 13th; nine days after crashing.
An inquest into the death of the 75-year-old with an address in Dun Laoghaire, south Co Dublin, was held before the Dublin City Coroner Dr Brain Farrell yesterday, Tuesday.
It heard that as Dermot rode down the ascent with a number of other riders including Stephen Gallagher, Brendan McAllister, and John McElroy they came to an oil spill in the road.
Dr Farrell was told by Stephen Gallagher that they were riding in single file and at around 25kph at the time of the incident.
John McElroy said he saw Dermot’s front wheel slip, before he regained control of the front of the bike.
However, his rear wheel then slipped on the oil and Dermot fell to the ground hard.
Dr Farrell concluded from the evidence heard that the men could not see the oil slick, which made the road impossible to cycle on and was an unusual occurrence in the area that had not been encountered by any of the men in the group before that ride.
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A paramedic with the HSE, Ian Thompson described in a statement how he arrived on the scene at 12.10pm that day, just under 20 minutes after receiving an emergency call.
He found Dermot sitting on the grass at the side of the road with head and face injuries that were bleeding.
While Dermot was conscious, he could not communicate properly and was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital and tended to in the intensive care unit where a moderate traumatic brain injury was diagnosed.
Dermot’s daughter Barbara McGrath told the hearing her father was able to sit up in the days that followed the crash but was not able to respond and was instead “conscious in a blind and deaf tunnel”
On November 13th he suffered cardiac arrest in hospital and despite efforts to revive him was pronounced dead.
A post mortem uncovered severe cranial trauma, laceration and bruising of the brain, secondary swelling to the brain, as well as fractured ribs.
The inquest was told that despite his head injuries, Dermot was wearing a helmet when he crashed.
The inquest concluded there were significant risk factors involved in cycling on the stretch of road that day due to the oil slick and a verdict of death by misadventure was record.
A Garda witness confirmed no members of the force attended the scene of the accident on the day and that no information had emerged about the source of the oil slick.
The inquest jury recommended Wicklow County Council examine how it responds to reports of dangerous road conditions from members of the public.
The other cyclists with Dermot at the time said while they reported the oil to the council after the accident no warning signs were put in place until two days later, and only after the council was contacted again via the Garda.
Dermot, who won the opening stage of the 1962 Rás into Longford, is survived by his wife Emily and four children Orlaith, Aidan, Barbara and Eoin.
He had continued to race with the IVCA up to the time of his death and had retired from his position of head of staff development at RTE.
Some of us working on stickybottle knew Dermot as an extremely decent man who was very popular in his wide circle of friends.
We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sympathies to Emily and the rest of Dermot’s family as well as his club mates and friends.
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