A Denver man choked to death on Sunday while participating in a doughnut eating challenge.

Travis Malouff, 42, had been trying to scarf down a half-pound doughnut in 80 seconds when he started choking at Voodoo Doughnut in Denver, Colorado.

People rushed to Malouff’s aid, but were unable to successfully perform the Heimlich maneuver.

“They tried so hard to do everything. It was clear that nobody was trained and they were just reacting,” a witness told news station KUSA.

The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed Monday that Malouff died from “asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway.”

“It’s tragic,” his father Curtis Malouff told KUSA. “It’s a loss of life that shouldn’t be.”

The 42-year-old’s death comes the same day that a Sacred Heart University college student died after taking part in a pancake eating competition in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Caitlin Nelsen, 20, was rushed to the hospital Thursday but died Sunday.