The organiser of Newmarket’s community awards, and supporter of a host of town good causes, was told he was lucky to be alive after he was involved in an accident while out cycling on Monday.
Sixty-nine-year-old Alan Shand sustained head injuries and a fracture to his spine in the incident in Snailwell Road when he was knocked off his bike by a car at about 3pm.
One of the first on the scene was Newmarket heath man Martin Gear.
Alan Shand, pictured with his wife Christine, who had a lucky escape after being knocked off his bike on Monday
“I could just see this man on the side of the road holding his head,” said Martin, “when I got to him I could not believe it was Alan who I know really well which was a good job because he didn’t know who he was.”
Martin had a towel in his car which he used stem the blood flow from two deep cuts to Alan’s head and then he helped another passer-by call the emergency services.
The East Anglian Air Ambulance landed in paddocks nearby and also at the scene was a land ambulance which took Alan to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, for treatment.
“I was so concerned about him but was glad I had the towel because in those circumstances you just have to do the best you can,” said Martin who, because he knew Alan, was able to contact his wife Christine, a maths teacher at Newmarket Academy and who with him has organised the Newmarket Community Awards recognising the town’s unsung heroes.
“The police accident investigators told me at the hospital Alan was very lucky to be alive and the medical team said he was lucky to have survived,” said Christine.
“He was out exercising on his bike as he was hoping to take part in an ultra-marathon in Scotland in May. He wasn’t wearing a helmet which of course he should have been and he never takes his mobile phone with him, so if it hadn’t been for Martin we wouldn’t have known what had happened to him.”
Alan has since been discharged from hospital and is now recovering at home in Heasman Close in Newmarket.
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