News

Mountain bikers mourn loss of rider who died in nationals at Ride Rock Creek

By Lightning Reports, Published: August 9, 2024

The mountain bike community is mourning the loss of a competitor who died Sunday after he crashed into a tree in a downhill race during the national mountain bike championships at Ride Rock Creek in Green River.

Scott Huntley, 34, was an avid rider from Rhode Island who was credited since his death with playing a role in wheel-building for two U.S. mountain bike rideers who won Olympic gold medals.

“With heavy hearts, we share the news that on Sunday, August 4, Scott Huntley was involved in a serious crash during his race run at the 2024 Gravity Mountain Bike National Championships," Ride Rock Creek said in a statement. "The event medical staff attended to him immediately on course, and he was taken to a nearby hospital. Later that evening, we received the heartbreaking news that Scott had succumbed to his injuries. Our deepest condolences go out to the Huntley family, friends, and fellow racers during this incredibly difficult time. We stand with you in your grief and will continue to offer our support in every way we can. Scott’s passion and spirit will always be remembered in our rider family."

Fellow riders announced that a Scott Huntley memorial train ride would take place at 4:01 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, on a downhill course in Mt. Snow, Vermont.

A youth-league football player and high school wrestler, Huntley took up mountain biking a few years ago and competed in races in the U.S. and Canada, the Providence Journal reported in a story it posted Friday.

"His loss has hit his friends and our community of mountain bikers in New England with heavy hearts and his loss is being felt across the country in the MTB world," fellow mountain biker Seth Joseph Merritt told the Journal.

"He was just so full of life, and he approached life with childlike wonder and joy," his girlfriend, Kristina Maria Jessica Grande, told the newspaper.

Mountain Bike Action, a website that covers the sport, contacted Harrison Macris, the CEO of Princeton Carbon Wheels, where Huntley was a wheel builder.

"He was always ready to test our wheels to the limit, and would happily bring in his results every Monday morning," Macris told MBaction.com in an email. "He really did live the life, working and building wheels really just to fund his racing, typically doing a full week’s worth of work in 3-4 days so he could drive to races."