Posted on 05/23/2021 3:46:29 PM PDT by Libloather
Twenty-one people, including two of China’s top marathon athletes, died after freezing rain and high winds struck a 62-mile mountain race in northwestern China, local officials said Sunday.
Liang Jing, 31, an ultramarathon champion, and Huang Guanjun, the winner of the men’s marathon for hearing-impaired runners at China’s 2019 National Paralympic Games, were among those found dead, according to state news media.
The deaths prompted outrage in China, with online commentators questioning the preparedness of the local government that organized the race, held at Yellow River Stone Forest Park in Gansu province.
Hours into the event Saturday, the weather suddenly deteriorated as the runners were climbing 6,500 feet above sea level to the 12-mile mark, according to Zhang Xuchen, the mayor of the nearby city of Baiyin, who fired the starting pistol. Runners dressed in shorts and T-shirts were suddenly facing freezing conditions, and rain turned to hail. Some passed out from the cold.
“In a short period of time, hailstones and freezing rain fell in the area, and there were strong winds,” Zhang said. “The temperature dropped sharply.”
Some of the participants sent a video message asking for help, and authorities sent a rescue team that assisted 18 of the athletes, Zhang said. The race was called off by 2 p.m. Saturday.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
“don’t pet the bison” alert
its an ultra-ultra-marathon
Sum Ting Wong
Oh, that’s very sad.
R.I.P.
Climb it change¿
They stopped running and succumbed to hypothermia.
Reminds me of the many people who have died from hypothermia climbing Mt. Washington on what began as a pleasant, sunny day and deteriorated rapidly.
He never heard it coming.
Awful and certainly shouldn’t have happened. No camps along the route?
----------------------------------
That might backfire.
Proof that China has fewer lawyers than the US.....
Sound like the Barkley Marathons.
Since this is coming out of the Chinese press I believe almost nothing of this.
If anything the death count is WAY, WAY too small.
But who knows, maybe the marathon is an invention.
Lol.
This is why I don’t run.
I did the presidential traverse over three warm, sunny, dry days in July. It was tough. I can’t imagine how dangerous it must be in the wet and cold.
Yeah, because getting caught in a sudden weather change and intentionally provoking a dangerous animal are exactly the same, right?
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