Extreme weather turns lethal in one of the deadliest incidents in Chinese sporting history
In probably the deadliest incident in Chinese sporting history, at least 21 of the 157 competitors participating in the Gansu 100km (62-mile) mountain ultramarathon died after being caught in the onset of sudden extreme weather conditions.
In a harrowing race for life, over 1,000 highly-skilled and well-equipped rescue workers climbed through the Gansu rocky terrain at night using thermal-imaging drones and radar detectors to try to find runners caught by the storm. Those participants lucky enough to be rescued reported that due to the sudden drop in air temperature they began suffering from physical discomfort during the race and while stranded in the mountains the temperatures dramatically dropped overnight and they started experiencing hypothermia symptoms.
Chinese officials are now investigating what kind of emergency plans the local organiser of the event had in place and what account they took of weather forecast predictions. Whilst the general public are outraged it is too early to point fingers of blame as mountain weather condition can change dramatically from one hour to the next without warning.
According to rescue command, at about 1 p.m. on Saturday, hail, freezing rain and gales hit the area of the race’s high-altitude stage, between 20 km and 31 km. Temperature dropped again during the night due to the area’s complex terrain and topography, making the search and rescue work more difficult.
Among the victims were two of the country’s best long-distance runners, Liang Jing and Huang Guanjun, according to state media reports. Liang won China’s Ultra Gobi in 2018 and came second in the Hong Kong 100 ultra trail race in 2019. Huang was the 2019 marathon champion in the 2019 National Paralympic Games’ hearing-impaired section.
Gansu, borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west. Its Yellow River stone forest is famous for its rugged mountain scenery marked by stone stalagmites and pillars, and is used as a location in many Chinese television shows and movies. Its rock formations are believed to be four billion years old.
