Breaking news - Roo fight a knockout for lunchtime legend
Breaking news - Roo fight a knockout for lunchtime legend
From: AAP March 19, 2010 3:44pm
EVEN after years playing football, ACT local David Striegl had never got into a fight - until he was knocked out cold by a rogue kangaroo.
Mr Striegl, 25, was running up the city's Mount Ainslie during his lunchbreak yesterday and did not think twice when he spotted one of the resident roos nearby.
The bushland reserve in the nation's capital is popular with joggers and cyclists, and assaults by the marsupials who share the mountain are rare.Mr Striegl was knocked unconscious and remembers little about the attack.
"I turned around and before I knew it, it took a swipe at my face," he said.
A passing motorist roused the dazed and bloody victim and took him to hospital. After x-rays and a tetanus shot he was able to go home with only a black eye to show for the encounter. But he has now become something of legend at his corporate real estate office, where he returned to work the next day to discover he had a new nickname - "Skippy".
"I didn't want to wait til Monday to face the music," he said.
"The main thing they've been asking is whether I got one (punch) back on the roo.
"I can't even say that, because one punch and it put me to the floor.
"All my years of playing football and never a fight, and then I have a fight with a kangaroo."
So will Mr Striegl be running back to the area any time soon and risk a second round?
"Yeah, a few guys from work said they might come with me though," he laughed.
