It is with the deepest regret that Big Mountain Enduro and the Enduro World Series announce that there was a serious accident during Stage 3, the first stage of Saturday’s race, resulting in the fatality of a competitor. The rider’s family has been informed and the competitor’s identity will be released in due course.
It brings back some memories of the Gracia crash and the stuff that went on there with the other riders. Police seem to be using facebook a lot more these days to communicate faster.
The reality of the enduro race format is that marshals just cannot cover the course as would happen on more geographically contained events. The probability will always be that following riders will be the first at any accident.
Yep, the lack of ‘line of sight marshalling’ is one of the reasons British Cycling dropped Enduro. I would feel safer doing a full on DH race, at least if you crash the marshals see it and can render aid immediately, they can also pinpoint your location on the track for medical personnel to come to you.
Some of the EWS stages have been 30mins long, I’d hate to be a downed rider in that situation, helpless until another rider comes across you.
That’s awful and a bit of a shock. I guess we are lucky in a sense that in mountain biking we are used to injury but not fatalities compared to other extreme sports. RIP
There has been a lot of chat about Enduro races effectively being DH races, and open to the masses at that. I really hate to say it, but this seemed a matter of time to me.
We know absolutely nothing about the situation here, could have been an incident that could have happened anytime, any place, any discipline, anywhere. Pure speculation to suggest any “blame” at this point (though we do know it was a low tech course, far removed from some of the DH style races you allude to) and pretty bad taste to use it as an excuse for the “told you so” crowd.
Well said Doug. Mountain biking isn’t without risks, we all know that. RIP William Olsen, condolences to all involved and respect to everyone whose first instinct is to help.
Feeling a bit guilty at relief that it’s not one of the racers I know… But from the sounds if it, he was basically me.
I think there are some legitimate concerns being raised its a very tough discipline to regulate and mtbing can be dangerous . With so little info about this poor guy its all just speculation at present but it could have some big repercussions on Enduro and certainly EWS
It’s a fair point that accidents can happen anytime, but I personally push harder/faster and take more risks when racing.30 mins sounds like a long time to wait for a Marshall and a further 30 mins for a medic
It’s a fair point that accidents can happen anytime, but I personally push harder/faster and take more risks when racing.30 mins sounds like a long time to wait for a Marshall and a further 30 mins for a medic
Who’s to say the riders weren’t better qualified, or just responded to the situation better? Well done to those guys.
I agree MSP there’s nothing to indicate that, however 30 minutes before being reached by a marshall and over 45 mins before contacting 911 isn’t an ideal situation.
@kimbers, the police report says clearly that 911 were reached about 10 minutes after the accident, not 45. Seriously, this is why speculation is best kept to a minimum, it just leads to misunderstandings. Leaving aside all questions of tact etc.
(I’ve not seen anything that says that marshalls arrived 30 minutes after the crash, either- only that race personnel took over CPR 30 minutes after the crash.)
Maybe this is one the STW experts/moral police should leave alone perhaps? No need to swing this low. For what its worth, the police report says ten minutes between accident and 911 call.
Thanks for that link doug, it clears a lot of things up- it sounds to me like the organisers and EWS did everything they could as well as they could and made a lot of good decisions.