TWO local women are urging the public to exercise caution on the Fernleigh Track after two separate but similar experiences left them concerned for their safety.
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Tania Thompson and Tracy Sheath would like to see more police presence on the popular shared pathway after they both had a run-in with a “creep on a pushbike” who left them feeling scared and panicked.
Ms Thompson was running between Whitebridge and Kahibah about 4.30pm just before Christmas when a man on a push bike overtook her.
“He slowed down when he passed me and turned around and smiled and winked,” she said.
“It was just really sleazy. You just know. You know when guys are just being friendly, and this guy obviously had other ideas in mind. My intuition kicked in and I just felt it wasn’t right.”
Ms Thompson kept running, but at a wooden bridge on the track, the man blocked the path with his bike.
She sprinted around a dirt track adjacent to the bridge.
“There was not a soul around,” she said. “Then he came up behind me again, slowed down, and smiled and winked again, and started back-pedalling and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m in trouble here’.”
Ms Thompson said when she turned the next corner she was relieved to see three ladies walking.
“If they hadn’t been there I think I would’ve been in trouble,” she said.
Ms Thompson described the man as being about six foot with a solid build, and aged in his early 30s.
“He could be a predator, or he might just get off on going around and scaring women, but it still shouldn’t be happening,” Ms Thompson said.
She is now considering taking a can of pepper spray on runs, and she urged others to run or ride with a buddy. Ms Thompson thought more of a police presence on bikes might act as a deterrent.
“I think it’s a long shot, and expensive, but I think they should have security cameras periodically along the track, even just at the main entry points so you can get an idea of whose entering the track,” she said.
Ms Sheath’s experience was in January 2014, but two years on, she still gets heart palpitations when she thinks about the Fernleigh Track.
She was riding back from Redhead towards Whitebridge “in broad daylight” when she slowed to pass a man standing next to his bike in the middle of the path.
Ms Sheath said the man had quickly caught up with her. When she realised he was deliberately trying to knock her off her bike, she started screaming for help.
She said he eventually gave up and disappeared when a runner came into view.
“It was terrifying,” she said.
“I just want people to be aware of their surroundings there, and to take care.”
