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‘It was terrifying’: swooping magpies alarm world road championship cyclists

18-Sep-2022 17:30:21 | The Guardian

• Several top riders scared by local birds in Wollongong
• ‘That’s Australia, apparently,’ says Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel

There is a sign in Lang Park, near the beach in Wollongong, with a warning for passers-by. “Birds swooping!” it reads. “Dismount and walk your bike through this area. Magpies are nesting in this area.” The organisers of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships, which began on Sunday and run all week, must have missed the memo. The finish-line for the race is right near the sign, and magpies have been causing chaos for the world’s best cyclists.

“I’ve been swooped twice already since being here,” Australian rider Grace Brown, who won silver in the women’s time trial on Sunday, told Guardian Australia. “So it’s not just the international athletes that are worried about it. I get pretty scared by magpies.”