MORE ABOUT SCOTT HUNTLEY, WHO CRASHED AND DIED AT THE U.S. NATIONAL DOWNHILL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Riders gather at Mount Snow, Vermont for the Scott Huntley memorial downhill ride on Saturday, August 10th. (Photo  courtesy of Jared Wood)

When Scott Huntley, 34,  was racing in the U.S. National Downhill Championship in Zirconia, North Carolina, earlier this month, he hit a tree at high speed and was pronounced dead a few hours later. Some observers who witnessed the crash thought he died instantly from the impact, but his death wasn’t announced until later that evening, hours after the medical crew had transported him to the hospital.

Some of Huntley’s friends and fellow racers got together at Mt. Snow, Vermont, to remember him. (Photo courtesy of Jared Wood)

Kristina also gave us the phone number for Huntley’s friend, Jared Wood, who was one of Scott’s teammates on the Chaingang Racing downhill team.

THE COURSE SECTION WHERE SCOTT DIED

The section of the course where the crash happened was at the bottom of a very steep downhill section of  the course, according to Jared Wood, one of Scott’s teammates, whom we reached by phone. Jared told us that he spoke to some people who saw Huntley’s crash.

“It was one of the sections where you could get going really fast,” Wood told us. At the bottom of that section, he told us, there were two line choices. Wood told us that Huntley took the left, inside line of the two choices, one with a platform jump over some rocks. Huntley went over the jump and went straight into tree.

According to the witnesses, Huntley was going so fast when he hit the tree with his head and chest, that some of the people who witnessed the crash thought that the impact killed him instantly.

The race was reportedly stopped for two hours until Huntley was taken away in an ambulance.

Huntley’s girlfriend, Kristina Grande, told Mountain Bike Action that one of the men from the ambulance told her that Huntley did not have a pulse when he was in the ambulance.

Later that evening, the hospital sent word back to the track that Huntley had died.

Huntley’s girlfriend told MBA that she was never told the cause or time of Scott’s death.

Extremely hard impacts to the chest and head are both capable of killing someone immediately. A hard chest impact can rip the aorta off the heart and stop the heart from beating. A severe head impact can kill someone even faster.

THE MEMORIAL DOWNHILL RIDE AT MOUNT SNOW

Scott’s friends organized a group memorial “train” ride of fellow riders on the downhill trail at Mt. Snow, Vermont, the Saturday after his death at 4:01 PM, in honor of Scott’s long-time racing number, 401. Scott’s girlfriend, Kristina Grande, told MBA that she had heard that there were other memorial services for Scott at a couple of other downhill courses in the U.S. as well.

Riders were told to gather at the top of the Mount Snow downhill course at 3:45 PM on  Saturday, August 10th, so they could be lined up and ready to start the downhill train ride at 4:01 PM. Two of  Huntley’s fellow riders on the Changing Racing team led the ride. So many additional riders showed up that some were reportedly still waiting to join the group train ride down the course at 4:20 PM, when the minute of silence began, Huntley’s friend, Jared Wood, who led the moment of silence and then spoke about Scott, told MBA. (Photo courtesy of Jared Wood)

Two of Scott Huntley’s teammates on the Chaingang Racing Team begin the “train” ride on the downhill course at Mt. Snow. (Photo  courtesy of Jared Wood)

The memorial “train” ride for Scott Huntley snakes down the downhill course at Mt. Snow, Vermont, while other riders at the top of the hill wait to begin their descent. (Photo  courtesy of Jared Wood)

Jared Wood, Scott’s friend and teammate, told Mountain Bike Action that he led the group downhill train at Mt. Snow, Vermont, the Saturday after Scott’s death. He told us that he rode down the mountain in 4 or 5 minutes. Near the bottom of the downhill run, a crowd of Scott Huntley’s friends, teammates, and fellow riders gathered for a minute of silence, at 4:20 PM, that was led by Wood.

Wood told us that he didn’t check the time himself, but after enough time had passed, one of his friends indicated to Woods that he could end the minute of silence.

When MBA talked with Jared Woods a few days after the memorial ride, he told us that one of his friends was still at the top of the mountain waiting in line to come down the mountain while Jared was leading the minute of silence at the bottom of the course. Wood told MBA that he thinks there were around 100 people who came together to honor Huntley in the memorial ride at Mt. Snow.

Huntley’s plate number, 401, was retired by one of the local race organizations to honor Scott’s memory.

After learning of Scott Huntley’s death and finding that he worked for Princeton Carbon Wheels, Mountain Bike Action contacted the wheel-building company. Mike Harney, one of Scott’s coworkers answered the phone and told us, “It’s super sad. We’re all crushed by it.”

Mike Harney also put MBA in touch with Harrison Macris, the CEO of the company. He told us that Scott Huntley had been one of his best workers, and he had even been making wheels for Macris’ other company, P.1 Racing Wheels, which produced the wheels that were used by 2024 Olympic mountain biking gold medalists Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot. Macris told MBA that Scott had been building many of the wheels that were used by the two Olympic champions for the past two years, although Scott did not build the wheels with the Berd fabric spokes that Tom and Pauline both rode when they won their Olympic gold medals last month.

Scott’s friends are still mourning his death.

Here’s a look at one of the Eastern States Cup’s Instagram pages, with a picture of the late Scott Huntley.

This memorial was shown at Mt. Snow, to honor Huntley. (Photo courtesy of Jared Wood)

The announcement about Scott’s death on the Ride Rock Creek Instagram page included a photo of Scott riding on the course prior to his crash.