Australian Runner Finds Corks With Nails on Populated Trail

Runner's World ^ | January 22, 2020 | Andrew Dawson

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

An Australian runner found an unpleasant surprise while running on Monday near his home in New South Wales.

Paul Roberts, 42, was doing run-walk intervals at Lake Macquarie State Conservation Park. when he saw what looked like a man-made pile of leaves along the trail. Though not heavily populated, the trail does get foot and bike traffic, which is why Roberts was shocked when he kicked off the top of the leaves and found wine corks with nails through them. These are similar to historic weapons known as caltrops.

At first, Roberts said he didn’t think much of his initial discovery. So, he collected the two that were there, took them off the trail, and kept going on his run.

That mindset changed when he came across another pile and more corks with nails under leaves not 500 meters away from the first.

“I was like, ‘This is not right. Someone is up to no good here,’” Roberts told Runner’s World. “I started to think about what if someone stepped on them or I stepped on them?”

Roberts hightailed it back to his car to grab his phone to take pictures. He was on his way back to the first pile when he spotted a third pile right in the middle of the path. As he was taking photos, a walker and a cyclist stopped to see what was going on and were shocked when Roberts informed them of his findings.

[MacNaughton]

[Captain Walker]

Try riding a bicycle on the shoulder of a road, not even outside 1/3 of the lane where you have the right to be and see how your perception changes.

The worstmotorist are ones with “Save the Earth” bumper stickers on their Prius

Have you been riding a bicycle on the American roadways for very long?

Knowing how poorly people drive cars here, does it make sense that someone would climb on a bicycle and ride on the road alongside three-thousand (plus) pound motor vehicles, separated from them by nothing more than a solid white line?

(Your "right to be there" is no guarantee that you are safe being there.)