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Oh Deer! Buck takes down triathlete in Dublin park

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[Triathlon Ireland / Twitter]

An Irish athlete collided with a buck on Sunday during the cycling leg of the Dublin City Triathlon.

Shane O’Reilly, 30, was 10 km from the road race finish line when a buck sprang from the bushes and tried to jump clear over the cyclist. The crash was captured by photographer Erik Skaggs.

“I had a feeling they might make their way across the cyclists’ path, so I tracked them though my lens,” Skaggs told the BBC. "I never envisaged that they would actually try and leap over the cyclists.”

Thankfully, O’Reilly wasn’t seriously injured and completed the event in two hours and 25 minutes. Although his helmet had a huge crack it in from the collision.

“The helmet definitely saved me,” O'Reilly said.

The race course ran through Phoenix Park which is home to a herd of over 500 deer. The buck who wanted to show off his own athleticism, was not injured and rejoined friends who were waiting for him on the other side of the road.