TRAGEDY IN CHINA-HUANGHE SHILIN MOUNTAIN MARATHON: EXTREME WEATHER KILLS 21 RUNNERS.

Posted by Héctor Rubio on May 23, 2021 in trail running spain | 2 Comments

TRAGEDY IN CHINA HANGHE SHILIN MOUNTAIN MARATHON: extreme weather kills 21 runners. Our MOUNTAIN ACCIDENTs section today regrets this tragic event. This is a real disaster, occurring in the 100k  Yellow River Stone Forest  HANGHE SHILIN MOUNTAIN MARATHON in China’s Gansu province.

The platoon of 172 ultrarunners found, after going out in sunny weather, a storm of freezing rain, hail stones and gale winds, between km 20-31. There were 21 found dead.

Photo: inews.qq.com

ULTRA TRAIL CHINA-HUANGHE SHILIN MOUNTAIN MARATHON: 21 KILLED BY HYPOTHERMIA

As reported by multiple Asian media, the Ultra trail 100 kilometers from the Yellow River Stone Forest that took place in the beautiful landscape of the same name in Jingtai County, in Baiyin city, faced extreme weather for which the platoon was under prepared.

As a result, up to 21 people have been killed by extreme weather already in media such as CNN, although other media informed about a balance of 16 dead and five missing.

The high-altitude Huanghe Shilin Mountain Marathon began saturday morning in sunny conditions, with 172 runners in the lying area. According to local data, around noon yesterday, the ultrarunners contesting the high-altitude stage of the 100-kilometre background race had already arrived between 20 and 31 kilometres of the route.

There they were affected by a sudden worsening of the weather that triggered a storm with freezing rain, hail stones and gale winds. Temperatures plummeted sharply. The imnpact among the runners was sudden and dramatic, contact with platoon was lost and the race was immediately neutralized.

Jian Ling leading the race before the disater. Photo: Dani Allande. CARRERASDEMONTANA

YELLOW RIVER STONE FOREST HANGHE SHILIN MOUNTAIN MARATHON.

More than 150 kilometers northeast of Lanzhou, as you can see on the map, is Jingtai County along the Yellow River. On one side the great river and on the other it reaches the southern end of the Tengger Desert. It is at the crossroads of the three provinces of Gansu, Mongolia and Xingxia, and the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor.

The Yellow River has flowed west to east since ancient times, but here it flows west. There is a river town in this section of the Yellow River, called “Old Longwan (老 龙湾)” in Chinese. After rounding a big bend in this Old Dragon village, the Yellow River continues to flow east.

This village is very famous and photogenic, because it is surrounded by water and mountains. The water is that of the Yellow River, while the mountain is little known. The mountain is strange, high, tall and straight. Due to traffic limitations in the area there is only one bumpy mountain road and one plank road connected to the outside world.

The province of Gansu bet since 2000 to develop tourism here. A tourist route was built and later this ultra trail drawn up in parallel to the area was launched. The goal was to gradually show the world the beauty of the “Yellow River Stone Forest.” Today he has also unfortunately shown us the hidden dangers of the rough mountain that surrounds him.

ULTRA TRAIL CHINA 21 DEAD: RESCUE ORGANIZED BY 700 EFFECTIVES.

Authorities immediately organized multiple forces to search for and rescue missing personnel. The emergency response plan was activated, a lost contact rescue headquarters was set up and up to 700 personnel were launched in search and rescue.
Due to the complexity of the terrain and the topography of the stage, the night temperature went down again, making it difficult to find and rescue the runners.

At this time, the safety of 151 participants has been confirmed, of which 5 were treated with minor wounds in the hospital in stable condition. In addition, sources disagree on the exact number of dead. Some specify 16 participants killed as confirmed, and another 5 still missing, while others already give all 21 for dead.

Among the dead are some of the best runners in all of China, such as Lian Jing, the country’s No. 1 internationally. In the above picture, you can see him as he led the race, shortly before the storm hit them.

Rescue Teams. Photo: CNN

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Read the article in Spanish HERE