Pikes Peak Hill Climb suspended after motorcyclist dies in training
Race officials said there was "incident" during practice session on the Pikes Peak Highway
Posted: 06/25/2015 11:14:18 AM MDT2 Comments | Updated: 4 min. ago
A motorcyclist kneels down and talks on the phone at Devil's Playground near the summit of Pikes Peak on Thursday, June 25, 2015. (Logan Riely, The Gazette)
Carl Sorensen (Photo courtesy Carl Sorensen's family)
A motorcyclist was killed Thursday during a training run as part of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Race officials identified the man as Carl Sorensen.
"Throughout the 92 years that this unique race has been conducted on America's Mountain, we have experienced the ultimate joy in triumph, the disappointment of failure and now the unexpected heartbreak of the loss of a competitor," race officials said in a statement. "We mourn the tragic death of (Carl and he will be in all of our hearts this Sunday for the 93rd Race to the Clouds."
The statement said Sorensen was a married father.
"He left our lives while doing something that he loved, and it is the only thing that has the ability to deal with the reality of life, the acceptance of the competitors of the dangers in the race, and the heart and soul of a great man," the statement said.
The Gazette reports Sorensen went off the Pikes Peak Highway over a cliff between Devil's Playground and the peak's 14,115-foot summit. The newspaper says the highway has been shut down.
Sorensen is shown participating in the Hill Climb in Vimeo videos posted in 2014 and 2012.
The county sheriff's office and the Colorado Springs Police Department referred questions about the incident to race officials.
Additionally, six people and one vehicle were struck by lightning on Pikes Peak at about noon as the coroner's office and race officials were managing the incident, said Jackie Kirby, a sheriff's office spokeswoman.
Kirby said it wasn't clear if, or how, the six were connected with the race.
Five of those struck have been cleared while one person is still being treated at the scene of the strike, Kirby said.
"I don't know the extent of the injuries," she said.
Last year, a motorcyclist, 54-year-old Bobby Goodin, died racing in the Hill Climb after crashing on the mountain's summit.
The Hill Climb draws hundreds of competitors and thousands of fans from around the world for a day of racing up the eastern-most 14,000-foot mountain in the country.
Racing takes place on a course that spans more than 12 miles and rises nearly 5,000 vertical feet on the highway to the mountain's summit. The Hill Climb includes motorcycle, quad, car and truck divisions.
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