Hundreds of people turned up to Sam O’Shea's funeral to pay their respects
Sam O'Shea
Sam O'Shea(Image: Supplied)
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A dad has paid tribute to his son after he died following a crash last year. Sam O’Shea, 27, travelled around the world but always retained strong links with his family in Merseyside.
Sam competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, representing his birth country Gibraltar in cycling alongside his sister Holly. The Evertonfan was involved in an accident while cycling in Francein September 2025. He was hit by a motorbike and his injuries were too severe for him to survive.
The news came as a massive shock to everyone who knew Sam. Speaking to the ECHOabout what his son was like, his dad Paul O’Shea, 59, from Kirkby, said: “He always had time for everyone and treated everyone the same. He was really considerate. He was a great kid.
“He was born in Gibraltar, lived in England, lived in Abu Dhabi, lived in Naples, lived in Thailand. He had friends from all over the world. They reached out to us and said what an amazing person he was.”
Sam ended up settling in Leeds after going to university there. The city is considered the centre of triathlons, which his girlfriend Lucy Byron competes in professionally. He worked as a bike mechanic and focussed on cycling when he was unable to continue to swim during the pandemic.
Sam competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games
Sam competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games(Image: Supplied)
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Paul and other family members rushed out to France after hearing about the accident. He said: “We had to get from the UK to France as quickly as we could. Luckily we made it there in time to say goodbye, which was heartbreaking.
“He loved life. He was having a great time, travelling the world and then coming up to Liverpool for the match and to see family. Everything was going really well until it wasn’t.”
Paul says the impact Sam made around the world really hit home after he died. He said: “It’s made the worst time in our lives a tiny bit easier.
”It’s so nice that when people reach out and request to be my friend, just to tell me how amazing Sam was. This is people from Australia, Thailand, everywhere.
“People travelled from all over the world to his funeral. We had two chapels and people outside. There must have been like 250, 300 people there.
Sam was a lifelong Evertonian
Sam was a lifelong Evertonian
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Sam was a lifelong Evertonian(Image: Supplied)
“The amount of athletes at the funeral was brilliant to see because these are people who are traveling the world for their job and they wanted to make sure they were there to say goodbye to Sam.”
This weekend, two of Sam’s close friends will put on Everton shirts and run the Manchester Marathon in his memory.
There are also plans to take part in the Everton 10k run at the Hill Dickson Stadium. A JustGiving crowdfunding page set up in his memory has raised more than £35,000.
This will go towards creating a charity in his name, which will support athletes who lack the resources for essential equipment or travel to competitions. It will also help those recovering from injury who can't afford physio or rehabilitation.
Paul said: “What we want to do is give the opportunity that Sam had to people who mightn't necessarily have that opportunity, whether it's financial or a bit of coaching or whatever.
“”For (the Everton run) we've probably got 50 people to sign up in Sam's name now, give or take. We've got a few Olympic gold medalists, silver medalists, commonwealth medalists, world champions are all going to sign up for the race. We're trying to get a sponsor for a t-shirt, so we can all do it as a big group.
“It'll be amazing. It's like most things now, everything's bittersweet. It's amazing what everyone's doing, but then when I sit down and think of why we're doing it, it just breaks my heart, and my wife Angela and my daughter Holly.”
You can find out more about the fundraiser here.