RIP thats really sad :(

Yes. You are. He was a pro/am national mtb racer not a WC contender. This is not the time or place to start remarks like this. Have some tact

Doesn't it speak volumes for the sport of cycling that within minutes of a cyclist dying someone has to make the assumption that they doped themselves to death?

RIP James - you're forever in 'Singletrack Paradise' now!

PissedOffCil: No way in hell would Willo have doped. You are way way out of line.

Whilst I diddn't know him per se, the MTB scene is still small enough in Australia to have the odd chat here and there at various races. His great smile and all-round nice guy personality will be sorely missed.

RIP

I think we'll leave any speculation there.

I remember how excited the Aussie MTB community was when Willo won the World Solo titles, and he will be fondly remembered for his deeds as both a competitor and a journo as well as a really nice bloke to be around:)

Regards to his family and friends

RIP mate, sad to see a fellow Aussie mtb'er pass away in his prime, at least he died doing what he loved and had a great last day.

PissedOffCil: while you can't defame the dead, your comment was both baseless and inappropriate. We have removed it.

Incredibly sad to lose a cyclist in his prime. RIP

Thank you for the days in the sun together, thank you for the laughs, the infectious cycling passion that would radiate from your every word, thank you for your honesty, your trust and for your support when faced with mountains seemingly impossible to climb. Thank you for being there for me on and off the bike, thank you for listening, thank you for inspiring, thank you for understanding. Thank you for being part of my life. It was, and always will be, an honour to call you my friend.

We’ll 'keep smackin’ it' for you Willo. Forever.

God bless.

Michael Cotty

The endurance MTB community has suffered a great loss with former World 24hr Solo Champion James "Willo" Williamson passing away during the Cape Epic Mountain bike race in South Africa.

He was a wonderful young man with an infectious bright outlook on life. Willo was our men's elite champion at the 10th Anniversary World Solo 24 Hour MTB Championships in Canada, back in 2008. The team at twenty4 sports thoughts are certainly with his family, and many friends.

Sincerely,

Stuart Dorland

twenty4 sports

Founder - 24 Hours of Adrenalin

sdorland@twenty4sports.com

This is terrible tragic news, especially for the Australian MTB community. I enjoyed reading Willo's reports in Enduro Magazine. Regards to family and close friends.

Enough talk about the drugs you Morons

I was support crew for James in canmore 2008.

I saw a specail young man do an extraordinary feat.

Go James you are a Legend

Willo was a lovely, talented, fun lad who had time for all of the MTB community. He often did skills clinic for the club and was never to busy to chat. He had a wicked sense of humor too.

Its a sad day for our MTB community.

RIP Willo and sincere condolences to family and friends.

Hey wait a minute now, I wasn't making assumptions and thought twice before posting. I just couldn't see any explanations apart from that. Don't get me wrong I seriously hope it wasn't the case, this is ruining our sport but it has happened in the past so...

It doesn't speak volumes of the cycling community Mad-One it speaks volumes of people with narrow minds and who obviously do not know James.

I know James personally, my son is James' team mate.

So before the narrow minded pass their ill informed judgements in the future, think three or four times instead of twice. There is more than one explanation. I'm sure if you think about it, you can count higher than two! Be thankful that people with the love of life and passion that James exhibited in his far too short life can touch so many people. Sadly you obviously don't have anyone like James in your life I hope you will meet someone like James oneday - you will be a far better person for it.

Narrow minded huh?

It's not about being norrow minded at all. One perfectly fit athlete dies overnight without any kind of signs. This has occured in the past and was due to doping, so I'm entitled to have my doubts.

Now I have not accused of doping, I just asked if I was alone to find this weird.

And to be honest, many things I can think of which could have caused tis can be caused by doping. Again I'm not accusing...

And him being a nice guy changes nothing to the whole story. People never go screaming that they dope and it doesn't make you an instant asshole either...

As for me not being a good person... well that is just free insults from a bastard isn't it?

PissedOffCil, I've known two people, not athletes, not drug users, who simply died in their sleep despite being apparently in perfect health. One in her late teens, the other in her mid-twenties; brain aneurysms in both cases. It's rare and tragic, but it does happen.

Let's leave it there eh?

Vale Willo - one of the most infectiously cheerful guys it's ever been my pleasure to meet. The Australian mountain bike scene really will be the worse without him.

My Dear Friend,

Those who knew and loved you know the truth. You were an inspiration and truly amazing.

A little respect would go astray though!

I will miss you terribly Mr. Too many tears... I know you would hate that. I wish I had your words right now.

My thoughts are with your immediate family, cycling family and Niki. They have been dealt a rough hand. I cannot begin to imagine their grief.

I am not ready to say goodbye, or even except this is true

All my love Jimbo.... xx

This is the first ever blog I have done.......

Sudden death in sport in young people occurs usually due to cardiac arrhythmogenic activity or some other genetically acquired heart disease some other possibilities in this case would be pulmonary embolism following long haul travel.

This may not attract the sensationalist headlines that some of your uninformed bloggers would like to propose but much more likely scenarios.

Until an autopsy is performed why would you even raise this speculative and emotive subject as it is completely unnecessary, hurtful to the family and friends. Bike radar should remove these blogs, we can only prey they do so prior to the family reading them.

How would you feel if your 26 years old brother, boyfriend, son or nephew had just died, please ask yourselves that prior to anonymous blogging.

Would you have the guts to walk up to his family right now and say what you have just said online?

RIP a most beautiful boy, Willo what a tragic loss

Emma Colson

Melbourne

Australia

The press suggests that a pre-exisitng cardiac condition may have contributed to his death. FYI - Many people have cardiac issues but for some reason or other do not know until something happens.

For all the negative posts - please don't cast stones without the facts. Your comments are hurtful and insulting. His family and nearest and dearest are already hurting and contrary to popular belief, not all elite cyclists do drugs.

Willo's loss is felt far more widely than a few commenters realise - he was a great athlete, ambassador for this sport and an allround good bloke.

A lovely tribute on James and his contribution to MTB can be found here:

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/03/24/2854902.htm

Yes you are entitled to your opinion, but like most things associated with arseholes your opinions stink.

As I said I know James, have known him for 10 years. My son found him dead.

People voicing their speculated opinions and assumptions when they clearly do not know the person nor the facts only add to the unbearable grief felt by family and friends.

Spend your time reading the extraordinary number of tributes to James they are not exaggerated and are a true testament to this remarkable young man.

PissedOffCli made a comment about damaging “our sport”, nothing James Williamson did within and for the mountain biking community could be further from the truth.

I don’t have the energy to waste on any more of these negative comments.

All the other tributes are truly appreciated.RIP our darling James

''''The Embassy contacted Captain Luff on 24/03/2010 who advised that the post- mortem has been preformed. The State Mortuary are issuing a death certificate due to natural causes, Captain was not familiar with the medical term but informed that Mr Williamson suffered from a form of heart disease. Samples of the heart have been sent for testing. There is no suspicion of foul play.''''

The above quote comes from correspondence provided by the Consular Emergency Service in liasion with the Australian Embassy in South Africa.

I can post the relevant sections of the completed autopsy report should that be requested.

Integrity and honesty mattered to James. Never have I had cause for concern with his commitment to these qualities. Correctly concerns should be raised and put to rest if that is possible. In this case I believe there is no ground for suspicion.

Thanks for the condolences, DoJ

I never accused of anything, nor speculated. You put the words you didn't want to hear in my mouth when all I did was ask if I was the only one who found this supicious.

I'm sorry for others who misinterpreted my words and built this up into a scandal making things even more difficult for friends and family.

PissedOffCil - thats not the case- Its a sad and tragic situation and as I stated intially in response your first and now removed post this is not the time to remark on "suspicions". If this is the case may I suggest you post elsewhere on the forum so we can keep this page clear for well wishes who do not want to witness any sort of backlash, unpleasentness that the web is so prone to.

jerry Seinfeld - your comments are equally unhelpful and I daresay unwelcome on this page, may I suggest you follow POC and have a powow away from those that want to appreciate an ex world champs passing.

Cheers

99. 999 percent of people who have heard this story have formed an opinion based on media reports and have never actualy met James Williamson, me being one of them.

The fact of the matter is people do drop down dead for no apparent reason, even the fit ones.

when I first heard this story I was shocked that this guy didn't die during the stage while grinding away but while sleeping and at rest.

I've been to his website and read the various post about him and from what i,ve read, in his own words and from other people who new him, the benifit of any doubt is firmly in his corner.

People who think he died from taking EPO at this stage are two things. 1 they like to be right and 2 (the biggest reason) they are scared. Scared of their own mortality. How did this fit guy just die? He was,nt hit by a car or a plane crash, he just did,nt wake up. So to alay their fears and to understand they just put it down to drugs and in their minds if thats the case he probably deserves it. " If I dont take drugs Il be alright". The fact is, sometimes, people JUST DON'T WAKE UP.

Michael.W. Cape Town SA

To DoJ,

There's no need for you to post anymore details from Jame's autopsy, although thank-you for your honesty in passing what you did on.

When a young person, particularly an athlete, dies for no obvious reason, some will assume it's drug related. There is enough evidence of this to suggest that their suspicion can be justified. That's all well and good, everybody has opinions.

BUT, anyone who knows James knows that this simply wouldn't be the case. I've had the good fortune to come across him many times, and he was a fine young man. You should be proud of the son you raised and know that he was a great ambassador for the sport. He was competetive, but not at any cost.

I understand why you defended him. But regardless of anything you can say, others will always have opinions, and you'll never convince them all. So be it.

Just know that you'll never need to defend James to those that knew him, rode with him, rode against him, or shared a few words and laughs when paths crossed. The proof was plain for all to see.

RIP Willo.

To see an allegation of doping has been made about James pending release of the autopsy report is not only ridiculous, but also hurtful and insulting to those who knew Willo personally.

I am glad that the report has been released fairly quickly so we can put these stupid speculations to bed, and move on to remembering Willo for the person he was and what he meant to the MTB community. The response to his passing has been truly heartening and I feel proud to be part of such a loving community.

To those who make the earlier smart-ass comments, please go and waste your time on another blog.

Willo, I am grateful to have been here with you when you won the World title in Canmore in 2008, and hope my kids grow up to be like you some day.

Ride on,

Katrin Van der Spiegel

A very sad day indeed. I had the pleasure of riding with Willow for the first 5 minutes of the 2008 WSC race and hung out with him at the after party in the Iron Goat restaurant. I knew I was in for a challenge when 15 Aussies came to Canada for a show down.

To speculate drug use prior to autopsy reports is childish, especially since he worked as an editor for a magazine. He loved the sport plain and simple and died doing something he loved. It takes most people their entire time to reach a sense of accomplishment or one moment to make their life worth while, however Willow had many of those moments and will be remembered for them.

Ultra endurance mt bike athletes may carry some degree of insanity to put our bodies through grueling events multiple times per year, however we are also the most down to earth and inviting people you will meet.

I would be more curious to find out if he was bitten by a spider or snake during his sleep to cause some sort of cardiac arrest.

RIP

Chris Gagnon

Owner & Founder

CrossCycle® Fitness

www.crosscyclefitness.com

-----------------------------------

Owner & Founder

Team MTBMind.com

www.mtbmind.com

Live it. Love it. Ride it!

To PissedOffCil and their ilk,

You don't seem to have the intelligence to distinguish between fitness and health.Lance Armstrong and Sir Steve Redgrave??! And the tens of thousands round the world that none of us have evr heard of.

And obviously don't pay much attention to sport either otherwise you'd be aware that fit , particularly young people dying in this manner is a regular occurence even though we only here of the few to whom it happens in the public eye , eg Epics,big city marathons or Kenenisa Bekele's wife.

To answer your question , are you alone in your tiny mind's suspicions?Hopefully yes.