Tributes for Les Karayan killed in a freak crash Les Karayan love riding and had competed in a number of amateur triathlons. Les Karayan, much loved father-of-two, loving husband, keen triathlete and successful businessman, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday morning. In a freak twist of timing, when a truck clipped a Dutton Park overpass at 7.30am, by pure, tragic coincidence, Mr Karayan was cycling alongside. The truck toppled on to its side, crushing the 40-year-old. Father-of-two Les Karayan was killed in a freak crash at Dutton Park on Saturday. Photo: Linkedin It's a sudden, jarring and utterly incomprehensible death that has left a young family grieving and an entire community of triathletes reeling. He was just a really gentle soul, a complete gentleman. He absolutely adored his wife and children and always used to have a bit of a smile on his face," recalled Brisbane triathlon coach Rod Cedaro on Sunday. It's just such a wholesale waste. In a sad twist, just five kilometres into his ride on Saturday, Mr Karayan's bike wheel broke. He phoned his wife Kerry, who delivered a replacement wheel that got him back on the road. For the last time. Mr Karayan was a member of the Brisbane triathlon group Live 2 Tri, where Mr Cedaro coaches. Mr Cedaro said the Greenslopes man was renowned in the group for his encouragement of other members. "He was just a really gentle type of person and always very encouraging to some of the girls," he said. I have just been inundated with emails and phone calls from various club members, saying how they cannot comprehend this has happened, one of the girls from the club rang in tears. Mr Karayan had only started competing in triathlons in the past few years. When Mr Cedaro began coaching him, he joked he could barely imagine he would go on to compete in the ultimate endurance event, the Port Macquarie Ironman, which he did in May this year. "When I first saw him swim I thought he was going to drown, he looked like he was having an epileptic fit in the water," Mr Cedaro said. Seriously, it was quite frightening but he persisted and persisted where most people would have given up. For Les to get through a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a 42km run was a monumental effort. Recently, Mr Karayan had also introduced his young daughter to cycling. "He was just saying he had bought his daughter a new bike," Mr Cedaro said. She knew how to play the game, she said, 'Daddy if you get me a new bike I'll be able to come out and train with you,' which they had been doing. After a long stint as a sales manager at print firm PMP, Mr Cedaro had just this month started his dream job as general manager of outdoor leisure company Oz Trails. Mr Cedaro, whose sister died when she was hit by a truck on a training ride in 1992, said Mr Karayan's death, despite it's freak nature, was another stark reminder of how vulnerable cyclists are on the roads. "As soon as I heard on the news that a 40-year-old cyclist had died in Annerley, I just got that horrible feeling," he said. There's always going to be a segment of the public who regard cyclists as cockroaches on wheels but it's that sort of mentality that incites this unnecessary hatred. They are someone's wife, husband, brother, sister and no matter what happens now, with any charges or anything for the truck driver, this man's gone now. This has just changed people's lives, these kids are going to grow up without a father. The Queensland Police Forensic Crash Unit is investigating the crash. In the meantime, Live 2 Tri are in the early stages of planning an event that will honour Mr Karayan's memory. "We have been talking about a run, probably in about six to eight weeks we'll go for a run and have a barbecue but at the moment it's just a bit fresh in everyone's mind," Mr Cedaro said.