Paralympian Kieran Modra’s uncle and biographer tells of his determined last ride
A determined Kieran Modra was adventurous until the last, riding towards his biographer’s home when he was fatally struck by a car.
Cycling
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Paralympic cyclist Kieran Modra was riding toward his uncle and biographer’s Tanunda home when he was fatally struck by a car on the Sturt Hwy north of Gawler.
The visually-impaired Modra had repeatedly refused offers of a lift from Gawler Railway Station when he visited author Andy Thurlow and wife Marlene just a fortnight ago, preferring to cycle alone instead.
Modra’s determination to ride then was so fierce that Andy and Marlene did not offer a lift on Wednesday, when he was heading to their home to join their cycling club’s expedition to Clare.
“He did the same thing on Wednesday – he left early, he got the train at different spots and rode most of the way. That’s Kieran – you could never stop that kind of adventurous spirit,” Andy told The Advertiser.
“We didn’t even offer him a lift this time, because last time we offered about six times and he said: ‘No, no, no, no”. We wish we could have …
“Kieran lived his life on the edge. If he decided to do something, there was an element of perseverence – that’s probably in most elite athletes.”
Modra was hit by a Kia sedan at about 7am on Wednesday at Kingsford, about 10km north-east of Gawler. He was about 20km from the Thurlow’s 1ha property, just west of Tanunda.
The Thurlows had planned to put Modra’s bike on their trailer, then drive to Auburn, ahead of a ride with to Clare for lunch with their cycling club, the Sprocket Rockets.
The couple started to fret when Modra had not arrived by about 9am.
“I rang his phone so many times and he wasn’t answering,” said Marlene, the youngest sister of Modra’s father, Theo.
Then she rang Modra’s wife, Kerry, who also was anxious. Eventually, and tragically, they realised something was fatally wrong.
Like Modra’s family, the Thurlows are Christians.
They got to know the young Modra well in his hometown, Port Lincoln, when they were both teachers.
Modra had visited them in Tanunda a fortnight ago to be guest speaker at their church, Langmeil Lutheran. The service’s theme was Blind Faith.
“We believe in a God that we can’t see,” Andy Thurlow said.
“Kieran had some magnificent achievements but he still had to depend on Kerry and other people for support – he couldn’t do it alone.”
Thurlow fondly recalled his inspiration to write Modra’s biography – Kieran Modra: The Way I See It (Wakefield Press) – was spurred by a mutual love of sport and his nephew’s dramatic life.
“He could never go off and have things run smoothly. There always had to be some drama. It might not have been his fault – that was just Kieran and I loved his spirit,” he said.
A reprint of the sold-out biography, published in March last year, was being considered by the independent Adelaide publisher before Modra was fatally struck, Wakefield Press director Michael Bollen said.
Read an extract from the book Friday on Advertiser.com.au and in Saturday’s Advertiser.