Saturday’s Yellow River Stone Forest Mountain Marathon is set to go down as running’s most deadly event ever, with 12 fatalities out of 172 runners following freak weather. But the tragedy was preventable and this time, local government is making no attempt at shirking responsibility.
At 09:00 on 22 May, the runners, who had come from all over China to take part, went under the starting pistol at the extreme cross country race held in Jingtai County of Baiyin City in Gansu Province.
Starting from a bend in the Yellow River famed for sheer cliffs and rock columns, runners faced mountain canyons and an arid plateau on the grueling 100 km-long race at a height of over 1,000 metres. Designated a “China Marathon Bronze Medal Event” by the China Track and Field Association, this was the fourth outing for the Yellow River Stone Forest Mountain Marathon.
Many of runners were tackling the high-altitude section of the race when the weather hit. It was near Check Point 2 at the 24 km point that hail and freezing rain suddenly descended, accompanied by strong winds and a dramatic drop in temperature.
At 12:00, the contestants released a distress message in the race’s WeChat group, but the competition was not officially called off until 14:00. Every runner reporters spoke to said that they had not been told by organisers to stop the competition before they had lost consciousness or were injured.
But half an hour earlier, at about 13:30, Wang Qinlin, Branch Secretary of Humashui Village nearest the incident scene, had received notice and quickly set about quickly organising an ad hoc villagers’ rescue party.
Together with others, Lu Youduo, one of the villagers taking part, found three people frozen to death on their way to the rescue, reported Xinhua.
Despite the late start, some 1,200 people were eventually mustered in the rescue effort which also made use of thermal imaging drones.
The complex terrain made the operation particularly challenging, with night-time darkness a particular danger for rescuers. Li Yuanhui, leader of the Baiyin Fire Rescue Detachment, said the biggest difficultly was that the runners were so far away, and that only some sections of the trail could be traversed by vehicles.
The body of the final victim was not found until 09:00 yesterday.
Afterward, one of the runners spoke of what they had been through. “At that time, I couldn’t see my way down the mountain clearly. Many of the competitors were lying at the side of the track. Some of them may have been dead”, said the unnamed participant.
At a following news briefing, Baiyin government officials took full responsibility for the disaster and even stood to bow their apology to those assembled and the national media.
Indeed there can be little doubt that the weekend’s tragedy was entirely avoidable.
Director of the Meteorological Bureau of Jingtai County, Kang Yongxue, said that he had provided special information for the event, advising of a “strong wind blue warning”.
Extreme weather prediction is a precondition for events of this sort, said Song Ming, who heads up a well-known outdoor club in Gansu Province. Song also said that the event’s organisers failed to take appropriate actions following the early warning provided by the meteorological bureau.
There also remains the issue of equipment for runners in these types of extreme races. That they carry items such as thermal blankets is at present only recommended and not compulsory.
With the Chinese public still shocked in disbelief that a tragedy of this nature could happen, the regulations for both operators of and participants in such extreme mountain marathons are certain to be in for some tightening. And they are sure to be extreme in themselves.
