5:30 p.m.: The athlete who crashed and was injured while participating in the Breck Epic mountain bike race on Friday, Aug. 16, has been identified as Howard Grotts, 31, of Durango.

According to Breck Epic founder Mike McCormack, Grotts received the best-possible care from the first responders who responded to the scene. McCormack was able to confirm that Grotts was transported to a hospital for further care and is currently in stable condition but has several serious injuries.

Grotts is a well-known cross-country mountain biker who was a member of the 2016 U.S. cross-country mountain biking Olympic team.

Grotts — who rides for Specialized Off-Road — won Stages 4 and 5 of the Breck Epic earlier this week and was in contention for a spot on the podium prior to the crash, which happened in the last mile of the course. 

Since the Breck Epic is a large-scale, six-day stage race, McCormack said he and the rest of the Breck Epic staff plan for emergency situations and deployed all four tiers of their emergency response plan on Friday morning.

“We put a lot of effort into our medical planning,” McCormack said. “We have four tiers of medical planning starting with our on-the-ground medical team and ending with helicopter. All four of those levels were activated, that is how it is supposed to work. What we saw was a world-class field rescue from people who are the best in the business at it.”

10:30 a.m.: An athlete participating in the Breck Epic mountain bike race was injured Friday, Aug. 16, in a crash, according to the event organizers.

Breck Epic founder Mike McCormack said the crash happened on the last mile of the course Friday morning.

“There’s an injury on course and the rider is being attended to by Red, White & Blue, the local ambulance service and our medical staff,” McCormack said. “He is getting the care that he needs right now.”