In a foretelling of things to come, a Cook County North Shore Health ambulance leads bicycle racers down the road to Highway 61 to start the Lutsen 99er race. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Cook County ambulance crews, sheriff ’s deputies and emergency workers were busy this past Saturday with three calls to the Lutsen 99er mountain bike race and a separate call for help that didn’t involve the race.
With 1,800 riders taking off from the top of the hill near Caribou Highlands at 7:30 a.m., it took only 10 minutes for the first call to come in.
At 7:40 a.m. two vehicles with EMS workers came down the hill to the bottom of Highway 61 in search of a call for help. Finding no one hurt, they continued their search and found two people who had been riding a tandem bike who had gone off of the road and were injured. The two were taken to the North Shore Hospital with a shoulder and a hip injury.
Due to the nature of the serious injuries a helicopter was called and they were transported to a hospital in Duluth. There has been no release of information concerning their condition.
At 8:46 a.m. Cook County ambulance and Cook County sheriff ’s deputies responded to Evergreen Road to assist a participant in the 99er who had collapsed and later died. He was identified as Brad Johnson. No other information was made available about Brad by law enforcement or by the race officials at this time.
Jordan Titus, public relations specialist for Life Time-Healthy Way of Life, who organized the event, said on Tuesday, July 2,
“Our Life Time and Lutsen 99er families are mourning the loss of dedicated and cherished mountain biker and Life Time team member Brad Johnson. Brad was a 10-year veteran at Life Time, who truly embodied our mission. Our thoughts and prayers are not only with Brad’s family and friends, but also our Life Time team members and all those who had the privilege to know him. Brad truly will be missed.
“We also want to express our heartfelt appreciation to the dedicated staff, participants and first responders who assisted Brad in his time of need. Our communities will continue to feel this loss, but we will also celebrate the legacy Brad left behind.”
In an unrelated bicycle race event, nine minutes later, at 8:54 a.m. a female collapsed and the ambulance was called to transport her to the North Shore Health Hospital.
The ambulance was called out again at 12:14 p.m. to assist and aid a bicyclist who was entered in the 99er. The biker had to be transported to North Shore Hospital. No word on his condition.
As Mike Larson, one of the founders of the 99er, commented, “Safety and having participants have a wonderful experience are the two key components to having a successful event. But, as you know, with numbers, things happen. And it’s unfortunate. Over the nine-year history of this event and with over 12,000 riders to-date, the number of overall accidents has been very small (count on one hand over nine years).”
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