James Williamson (Australian cyclist)

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James Williamson (1983–2010) was an Australian journalist and cyclist who won the World Solo 24-hour mountain bike Championships in Canada in 2008. His brother, Geordie Williamson, is a renowned mathematician. [1]

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Journalist person who collects, writes and distributes news and other information

A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information to the public. A journalist's work is called journalism. A journalist can work with general issues or specialize in certain issues. However, most journalists tend to specialize, and by cooperating with other journalists, produce journals that span many topics. For example, a sports journalist covers news within the world of sports, but this journalist may be a part of a newspaper that covers many different topics.

Mountain bike type of bicycle

A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain. These typically include a front or full suspension, large knobby tires, more durable wheels, more powerful brakes, straight handlebars, and lower gear ratios for climbing steep grades.

Contents

Death

On 23 March 2010, James Williamson died whilst competing in the Absa Cape Epic, a 722 km eight-day race in South Africa. After competing in the first two stages and being in 18th place in the field of 1200, he died in his hotel room prior to the third stage. [2] His death was due to an undiagnosed heart condition; an autopsy found that one of the chambers of his heart was not functioning correctly, which led to the enlargement of one of the ventricles in his heart. [3]

South Africa Republic in the southernmost part of Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.

Ventricle (heart) chamber of the heart

A ventricle is one of two large chambers toward the bottom of the heart that collect and expel blood received from an atrium towards the peripheral beds within the body and lungs. The atrium primes the pump. Interventricular means between the ventricles, while intraventricular means within one ventricle.

Williamson was also an editor at Enduro magazine and blogged during each race on his personal website. His final post was written two days before his death.

A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

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Triathlon sport which combines swimming, cycling and distance running

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Cadel Evans Australian road bicycle racer

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Marc Bassingthwaighte is a Namibian cyclist who specialises in cross-country events. Bassingthwaighte represented Namibia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where he competed in the men's cross-country. He has also competed in a Commonwealth Games, an African Mountain Bike Championships, a Namibian National Road Race Championships, two Namibian National Time Trial Championships, a Namibian National Mountain Bike Championships and two Giro del Capos. Bassingthwaighte is a two time medalist at the Namibian National Road Race Championships.

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Yolande Speedy is a South African professional mountain biker. She has claimed two gold medals in the women's elite cross-country race at the African Mountain Bike Championships, and also represented her nation South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2007 Speedy competed in the Absa Cape Epic Mixed Category with team mate Paul Cordes, winning the category. She claimed 1st place again in 2013, this time in the Women's Category with team mate Catherine Williamson. Throughout her sporting career, Speedy has been training as an amateur rider for the IMC Racing Activeworx Mountain Biking Team, until she turned professional in 2010 and thereby raced for more than three seasons on Team Dimension Data.

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Kathleen "Kathy" Lynch is a retired competitive cyclist from New Zealand who competed both on and off the road. With a talent for multiple sports disciplines, she won the canoeing events New Zealand White Water Downriver and Slalom Championships in 1987 and represented her country at the 1988 Canoe Slalom World Cup. Around the same time, she was also a successful triathlete, but did not continue with that sport. She bought her first mountain bike in 1988 at the age of 31 in order to compete in an adventure sport event, and within a year she had become the New Zealand national cross country champion. Around the same time, she also took up road cycling. She was included in the New Zealand team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games and was assigned as domestique for the top New Zealand road rider, Madonna Harris. Harris and Lynch finished in fourth and ninth places respectively. In September 1990, Lynch competed at the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and finished tenth. In November 1990, she became a household name in New Zealand by winning a 22-day multi-sport race the length of the country that had prime time TV coverage every night.

References

  1. ↑ Eulogies - Jimbo, James Williamson memorial blog 10 April 2010 retrieved 26 February 2019
  2. ↑ Mountain bike star James Williamson's death still a mystery
  3. ↑ Johnson, Greg. "Williamson’s death attributed to undiagnosed heart condition", cyclingnews.com 29 March 2010 retrieved 20 May 2012


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