LEAD STORY: Girl run over by relative on quad

A teenage girl is in hospital with neck and abdominal injuries after a relative ran over her with a quad bike during a school fundraising ride near Waipukurau yesterday.
The 15-year-old from Taradale had fallen from her two-wheeler bike when a male relative, who was following, hit her with his quad bike during an annual ride to raise money for Flemington School, held at Wallingford, south of Waipukurau.
The average quad bike weighs between 350kg and 400kg and Hawke's Bay Today understands the bike went over the girl.
She was treated by the event nurse who called the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter to airlift her to Hawke's Bay Hospital.
The hospital listed her in a stable and comfortable condition this morning.
The pair had been part of a large group of two families riding together on the 110km track.
Flemington principal Phil Bourke said he had not been present when the accident occurred but he understood the man was a relative.
Phil Murphy, who owns the land where the ride took place, said the man had been following the girl closely and when she had fallen he had little time to react.
 "I assume they were following each other. There were close to 200 bikes and you can't put 20 metres between each person," he said.
"We just do the best we can but, sometimes, that's just the nature of it when you get a group of people together riding bikes, they do tend to go a little faster."
The accident was a combination of bad luck and "being in the wrong place at the wrong time".
The course was reasonably challenging and was the second year the school had used this particular route for the annual event.
It covered areas of Ngawaka Rd, Ugly Hill Rd, Rotohiwi Rd and Ahiweka Rd.
Mr Murphy said long grass this year might have made the course trickier (because it can hide rocks) but believed it did not play a part in the crash.
One of the event organisers, Glyn Paterson, said all safety measures had been taken, with GPS (global positioning systems) available, radios to co-ordinate riders, marshals along the track, the local fire chief, a nurse on hand. As well, the field had been divided in terms of ability. The children, scenery-watchers and less confident riders stayed at the back with a monitor and "the ones that want a blat" were up the front with Mr Paterson.
"We couldn't have done much more, really," he said.
His children had taken part in the ride and he was confident it was safe enough to send them again next year.
A debrief will be held at the school on Wednesday night to discuss what could have been done to improve the event.
"We will work out anything we can do to make things like this not happen. A few of us have a few ideas and we will just try and constantly do what we do better."
Apart from the accident, it was otherwise a successful event and they were keen to run it again. Mr Paterson was pleased to see "more female riders" than there had been in the past.
Mr Bourke said the event attracted 165 riders and raised about $4000 for the school before expenses.
Many rural schools have found trail-bike rides to be an effective way of raising money. Puketitiri School holds a similar event on March 28.
The crash followed a similar incident last week at Opoutama in which a woman ran over her husband twice in their own driveway. He suffered head, chest and back injuries.
Also at the ride, the daughter of the event nurse broke her wrist after jumping off a bike.