Our Story

On August 10 2008 Gracie Nichols, a 16 year old Christchurch Girls’ High School student, was out training for the Secondary schools South Islands event. She was cycling along Halswell Road, following her father when the front wheel of her bike clipped the back wheel of her father’s bike. She tumbled out into the middle of the road. A following car noticed that the cyclist was becoming unstable and slowed down but being that this was a 50km zone, it was impossible to stop in time. Gracie’s head hit the front light and one wheel of the car ran over her from her left hip to her right shoulder. She was trapped under the car for some minutes while her father and some helpful members of the public lifted the car off her. An ambulance took her to hospital and she was put into an induced coma. After 4 days in the coma she woke up but her injuries were still quite extreme. She had fractured and dislocated her right scapula, fractured her left scapula, broken her clavicle and almost every rib. Her broken ribs had punctured both of her lungs during the impact and she had broken a small bone in her neck. She also suffered some short term memory loss and disorientation. Overall, she spent 3 weeks in hospital and as her condition improved her and her family made a list of things that they wanted to do once she was better.

Close to the top of the list was ‘a charity event or way to raise money for ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and St Johns Ambulance’ that inevitably saved her life. Annie, Gracie’s twin sister, also wanted to find a way to raise cycle safety awareness because, even though this accident was not at all the driver’s fault, the twins both agreed that both cyclists and drivers need to gain more respect for each other and share the road. Together, they came up with the idea of making bumper stickers to promote the message of taking an extra second to watch out for cyclists.

Gracie has made a full recovery and has returned to cycling. She now aims to ride the 2010 Graperide in the tandem category with twin sister, Annie and has continued with her passion for tennis. She competes in regional tennis tournaments and also plays doubles with Annie.  Thankfully, Gracie has no major long term injuries. J