April 18, 2016 (Calabogie Ontario) – A late-race crash on the final straight-away to the finishline in a bunch sprint for 5th in the Elite 1&2 Men’s 111.1km race at the Calabogie Road Classic Ontario Cup #2, took down a number of riders including well-known competitor and race organizer, Bruce Bird (Wheels Of Bloor/Graywood Development). Bird went down hard in the pile up and suffered nine broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a dislocated shoulder, and a punctured lung. He was rushed by ambulance to the Ottawa Civic Hospital for immediate treatment.

Bird’s teammate and friend, Gaelen Merritt, assisted in driving Bird’s car to the hospital and stayed with him telling Pedal, “He was pretty beat up and will be sore for some time but the good news is he’ll be ok.” Aaron Hamill (Wheels Of Bloor/Graywood Development) was also injured and suffered some road rash but was able to finish the race. The latest report is that Bird’s wife Natasha and his two kids are with him and he hopes to have surgery on his collarbone tomorrow.

Bird is a veteran rider on the Ontario scene and organized the first Grey County Road Race in 2015, the only North American qualifier for the newly named UCI Gran Fondo World Series. The inaugural race, presented by SPORTSNET and hosted in The Blue Mountains, ON, was a huge success and is returning on May 27-29 this year.

Pedal joins the cycling community in wishing Bird best wishes for a speedy recovery.