OCBC Singapore Cycling Crash Leaving One In Critical Condition

This just came in to me this morning from my friend Mohan based in Singapore. When I saw it, I thought it was the OCBC biking event in KL that has seen many crashes and even a friend being admitted to hospital due to crash (hope you are recovering well Tony Quay!). As it turned out, it was the OCBC biking event in Singapore that has one 24 years old man by the name of Chia Wee Kiat. He fractured his skull and has since underwent 13hours of surgery to remove blood clot.
Below is the news scanned from Singapore paper.

We have seen this happening more in recent years due to the growth in the sports and more people are taking competition rather too seriously. Granted that the competing spirit is good, but we must remember, as long as we are not doing this for a living (read : Professionals), it is best to keep things as "amateur" as possible. If you have the strength to be top athletes or be on podium, then some of us can understand the push. Even that, professionals know their limit well - stopping or not finishing the race if it will cause them their career or life.
What happened in the Singapore ride seems to be the common falacy of bad etiquettes when riding which includes following too closely, not allowing riders to pass, kiasu-ness, selfish to finish ahead at all cost and just plain ignorant. With many organisers nowadays working on the number to organise the "LARGEST, BIGGEST, XXX (insert your own preferred superlatives here)" Race, quality are lost. 
To Chia, I hope you will pull out of this soon. No fun to be on the operating table for 13hours. 

For the rest of us - ride safe and avoid the herd mentality of bunching up during races (read : huge peloton) as all it takes is one numbskull not understanding the dynamic to cause a crash that can escalate to loss of life.