Mountain bike racer dies on course
57-year-old died of natural causes during Fall Epic 8-Hour in Ontario
Race organizer Glenn  Meeuwisse credited on-site paramedics with doing everything they could to try to save a 57-year-old Oshawa man who collapsed during Saturday’s Fall Epic 8 Hour mountain bike race at Hardwood Ski and Bike. Henry Puchala was part of a team relay at the race and collapsed midway through the day. He was rushed to local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Meeuwisse said Puchala was a well-known cyclist. “He died from a heart attack but he happened to be cycling. He was a high-level athlete in his own time. It’s sad, but he died doing something he loved,” Meeuwisse said.
The race organizer has been hosting events since the late 1980s and said this was the first time anyone had died in one of his races, although in the 1990s, another racer in his 50s died during an Ontario Cup mountain bike race at Mansfield.
