Zoe Clay dies in tragic biking accident at 23. She was an up-and-coming power in bike racing.

Scott Sexton Oct 12, 2023



Zoe Clay died in a biking accident Sunday in Greensboro.
provided by Will Hardin

Reading — and hearing — the thoughts and emotions expressed by friends and family of a 23-year-old Wake Forest graduate who died from injuries suffered in a bike accident is tough. ... No one ever thinks that someone so young, not to mention someone as healthy and strong as Zoe Clay, could die. ... Not during a race. Not ever.

And yet that’s what her family and friends have been dealing with this week, trying to put the whys and what-ifs out of their minds as they remember good times spent with a joyful and fiercely competitive young woman. ... Clay crashed her bike on a looping mountain bike trail near Bur-Mil Park on Sunday afternoon. Her injuries were extensive; her father believes her death was instant. Her boyfriend, Will Hardin, a local and a professional racer, thinks so, too.

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“On Sunday, October 8th at 1:20 pm, Zoe had a fatal crash doing what she loved doing most: racing … details of what caused the crash are uncertain, but from accounts given by fellow racers, her death was immediate,” wrote her father Tom Clay in a statement on the GoFundMe set up to pay Zoe Clay’s medical and funeral expenses.

First responders were able to restart her heart after doing CPR for 30 minutes, he wrote, but their efforts weren’t enough to overcome severe injuries. ... “Due to her excellent fitness as well as being a registered organ donor, all of her major organs have been accepted,” he wrote. “In true Zoe form, she will save the lives of seven people, as well as countless skin graft recipients.”

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