‘I have only one thought, I can’t die here’

The death of 21 athletes at the 100 km ultra marathon in Gansu (China) on May 22 made the running world shaken.
According to the AP , the cause of 21 athletes’ deaths was due to sudden weather changes. Just before the departure time, a large thunderstorm suddenly arrived, causing the sky to darken, the wind gusting and the temperature dropping quickly. The athletes had an accident when their body temperature dropped suddenly.

One athlete who escaped death recounted the race details and attracted more than 100,000 followers. The athlete emphasized that the weather was good on the morning of the race, but the sudden arrival of the storm made it impossible for all athletes to react. The athletes did not send warm clothes at the starting place, but chose checkpoints (CP – water, food, clothes – PV) according to a pre-calculated schedule. As recounted by this athlete, he sent warm clothes at checkpoint 6, which is about 60 km. Therefore, athletes all start running with short clothes such as shorts, short-sleeved shirts, in the context of low temperatures. The athletes started the race with fairly short clothes, suitable for warm weather. Photo: Weibo. “Normally I would run about 2km to warm up, but with that weather, I couldn’t warm up,” the athlete said. “Things started to get complicated after CP2, when the rain fell heavily and most athletes escaped the forest. The rain was swept into the eyes by the wind, making the athletes unable to see anything, even when wearing glasses. is the most difficult part when it lasts 8 km with an altitude of up to 1,000 m. When climbing to the top, there is no water, food or even a place to rest. Athletes can’t even give up here, that’s the thing. The only thing they can do is climb down to CP4”. According to this athlete, most of the accidents came from the time at CP3 because the wind was very strong, the body temperature dropped quickly due to the heavy rain. “When I got close to CP3, I saw many other athletes give up and climb down. They said they couldn’t stand it anymore,” this athlete recounted. Each athlete will pay 1,000 yuan to participate in this race. If completed, they will receive 1,600 yuan, 600 yuan profit. “I look at the athletes giving up and think: This is how you guys wasted 1,600 yuan?. Now I just want to slap myself when I think back.” SCMP quotes the athletes who survived. “In the end, I decided to DNF (give up). I only had one thought, I can’t die here. I consider myself lucky because I made the decision to give up just at the moment when I felt my temperature start to drop. I should have DNF a little earlier. I put my finger in my mouth to warm it up but it turned out that my tongue was also numb. I was so engrossed in my own experience that I didn’t know when I was hypothermic, the temperature was. body temperature will just continuously drop very quickly and also quickly become life-threatening.” Twenty-one athletes were killed, although rescue teams searched all night. Photo: Weibo. When giving up to the tent, this athlete revealed that many people who defied the weather to continue the race had fallen. There is a 60-year-old athlete who even fainted on the mountain, in need of an emergency rescue team. The athletes who went down, even if they wanted to save, could not because they were exhausted. Ma Shuzi, a female athlete who survived, shared: “The takeaway from this race is to survive.” Hundreds of policemen went up the mountain to rescue trapped athletes from noon, but it was not until 4 pm that the race was officially canceled. Many top athletes in the running world in China are recognized Famous Chinese marathon runner, Liang Jing, died in this disastrous race. Huang Guanjun, the deaf athlete who won the marathon for the deaf at the 2019 Paralympic Games held in Tianjin, shared the same fate as Liang Jing. Baiyin City Mayor Zhang Xuchen, along with many other officials, bowed in apology: “As the organizers of the event, we feel deeply sorry and self-blame, and express our deep condolences to the victims. to the victims and send our condolences to their families and those injured.” “Provincial authorities have set up an investigation team to find out the cause of the incident,” Zhang said. According to the Yahoo! , repeated calls to Baiyin City went unanswered.