Two of China’s top track and field athletes were among 21 people who died due to extreme weather during a 100km race in Gansu province on May 22. Those are two names that are no longer strange in the world of athletics: Luong Tinh, a super-marathon champion, and Hoang Quan Quan, a deaf long-distance runner. “We have lost the masters of this sport. This is an earthquake for our sport,” wrote one Weibo user. Luong Tinh in an earlier race in Hong Kong. Photo: Sportograf. Athletes had a hard time when the race was interrupted by temperatures dropping to freezing. Survivors said the weather forecast said there would be wind and rain, but did not mention anything as extreme as what they experienced. The mountain race had to be stopped when some of the 172 runners went missing, and a major rescue operation was launched. The regional government was heavily criticized for not having a contingency plan. China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said that some local officials had put profit above safety, which led to the tragedy that left 21 people dead. Great loss Luong Tinh is one of China’s most successful ultra-marathon runners and is fondly called “Saint Liang” or “General Liang” because of his ability. The 31-year-old has won many long-distance races in the country, including the Ultra Gobi in 2018 – a 400 km race through the Gobi desert. According to pictures taken near the start of the race on May 22, which were widely circulated on Chinese media, he was only wearing shorts, a light jacket and a cap. By the time he was found by rescuers, he was already showing no signs of life. According to pictures taken near the start of the race on May 22, which were widely circulated on Chinese media, Luong Tinh was only wearing shorts, a thin jacket and a cap when running. Photo: Weibo. On Chinese social media, fans mourned his death, describing it as a “huge loss” for the country. “Without General Salary leading the way, who will the other super marathoners look to?”, one commented. Another victim, Hoang Quan Quan, 34, is known for winning the deaf men’s marathon at China’s 2019 National Paralympic Games. According to local media, he is a native of Sichuan, became deaf at the age of one after a “drug accident”, and also cannot speak. He did not excel in his studies and struggled to get a steady job. He often had financial difficulties and had to eat instant noodles for a meal. But what he does best is run, so he competed in races for years in hopes of winning the prize money. The May 22 race rewards runners 1,600 yuan ($248) each if they complete the run. Local media reported that after learning of his death, a friend of Hoang Quan Quan cried thinking about what he may have suffered in his final moments of life. “He’s deaf and can’t speak, he can’t even call for help,” said the unnamed friend. What happened at the race? On social networks are appearing more and more sharing about this race. The race starts at 9am on May 22. One survivor said the weather forecast caught them off guard. He felt that the weather was not normal that day, but the participants were not wearing warm enough clothes, many of them wearing short clothes. “I ran 2 km before starting to warm up… but the problem is that after running this 2 km, my body still hasn’t heated up,” the contestant said on her WeChat account. About three hours after the race started, the mountain track area of ​​the race experienced hail, heavy rain and high winds, causing temperatures to plummet, according to officials in the nearby city of Baiyin. A runner named Mao Shuzhi told Reuters : “The rain was getting heavier and heavier, at that time I had run about 24 km and had not reached the mountain.” She decided to go back to the hotel, and had been struggling with severe hypothermia on the way back. “At first, I regretted it, thinking it might just be a shower, but when I saw the gusts of wind and the big storm through my hotel room window when I returned, I felt so lucky because decided to come back.” Many athletes were stranded, cold and lost their way due to the weather affecting visibility. Rescue crews at the scene. Photo: AFP. An unnamed runner quoted by The Cover described the freezing rain as “bullets in the face”. He said there was a particularly steep section of the mountain and the open ground had nowhere to hide. “The rain really hurt, and the wind was so strong that you had to close your eyes,” he said. He added that even if someone brought a thermal blanket, it would be ripped apart by strong winds. Some of the runners who ran further fell off the trail into deep ravines. It is unclear how many of them survived. State media said a rescue operation involving more than 1,200 people with the help of thermal imaging drones and radar detectors had been launched. But rescue efforts have come too late for many victims. The incident has sparked public outrage on Chinese social media, mainly aimed at the Baiyin government and condemning the organizers’ lack of contingency plans. At a press conference on May 23, Mayor of Baiyin, Zhang Xuchen – who also fired the starting shot of the race – said: “As the organizers of the event, we feel guilty and We express our deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims and those injured.”

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.