Text/Wang Chunxiao
"He's not trying to push the limits, he's not about bonuses, it's just a hobby of his."
In the early morning of May 23, Lu Lu and his mother received a notice from the organizing committee that their father had disappeared during the cross-country race and had not been heard from since.
No one told the mother and daughter what had happened. It wasn't until she later swiped her phone to read the news that she recognized her father from a video. In that video, the 52-year-old father lies on the ground and foams at the mouth, his hands frozen and purple, looking very painful.
Finally, the bad news came, her father unfortunately died, fell on the 100-kilometer cross-country track of the fourth Yellow River Stone Forest Mountain Marathon in Baiyin, Gansu Province.
Due to local weather changes, the 100-kilometer cross-country race ended in tragedy, with 21 of the 172 participants killed and 8 injured. Among the victims, there are both cross-country enthusiasts such as Lu Lu's father and cross-country running star Liang Jing and others, for them, this is a marathon with no way back. Their lives remained forever in that sudden storm.
May 22, also known as "the darkest day in China's running circle".
(Photo/ Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area Weibo)
"Every breath you take, you can take a sip of rain"
Before the start of the race, no one expected extreme weather in the Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area, let alone the "most serious disaster in the history of domestic marathon and cross-country events".
Ma Xiao, a native of Gansu, is a participant in the 21km cross-country race. He participated in the 2020 Yellow River Stone Forest 100-kilometer cross-country race, with a result of 13 hours. In his view, this event is basically not difficult, coupled with the high prize money, as long as you can run can get 1600 yuan, "this is still very attractive to many people."
It is precisely because the difficulty coefficient is not high and the overall climb is not large, the amateur athlete from the south Zhang Li chose to sign up to try, which is also his first time to participate in the 100-kilometer cross-country race.
Official data show that the altitude range of the 100-kilometer cross-country race in the Yellow River Scenic Area is 1300 meters to 2300 meters, the cumulative climb is 3000 meters, and the closing time is 20 hours, which is suitable for the crowd to complete at least 2 full marathons or 1 cross-country running race of 50 kilometers and above in the past 1 year.
Like most players, tension is prepared for heat stroke and ultraviolet rays. He wore only short sleeves, shorts, compression pants, sunscreen sleeves, and put the storm jacket and thermal underwear into the transfer bag, which was placed at the CP6 change point. Before the competition, he did not receive weather notifications from the organizing committee.
Ma Xiao recalled that the weather forecast showed that there would be an hour of light rain that day, and in his experience, "even if there is light rain, the northwest side may be next, which should not affect the event." ”
At 9:00 a.m. on May 22, the gun started, and 172 runners set off from the ticket sales point of the Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area. A number of players recalled that before the start of the competition, the local wind was already windy, "at that time, the wind was not very strong, and it quickly entered the canyon, and people were less affected in the low places." Zhang Li told China News Weekly.
From the starting point to CP1, the tension takes an hour and a half. This part of the road is mostly canyons, gentle slopes, sometimes he feels the wind, sometimes he does not feel the wind, "overall running is relatively stable." ”
At about 11:00 a.m., the Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area began to rain lightly. Ma Xiao feels that this weather has little impact and is "more comfortable to run." At this time, because Ma Xiao was still the closing rabbit, he and the other two runners ran in the end, and Zhang Li had already run through CP2 at this time.
All the contestants thought the light rain would pass quickly. Unexpectedly, after five or six minutes, the rain gradually fell heavily, Ma Xiao's clothes became wet, and after ten minutes, the rain became more and more urgent, hitting his face and feeling raw pain, and the reverse wind also became "heavy", blocking his progress.
Since he did not carry a storm jacket, Ma Xiao could only take out the only mask to protect his face. But the mask was scraped off several times and then stuck directly to the mouth until it began to obstruct breathing. Ma Xiao recalled, "At that time, every breath I could take a sip of rain. ”
The track from CP1 to CP2 is relatively flat, and for trail runners, there is basically no difficulty here, but the weather makes the difficulty suddenly increase. When he arrived at CP2, Ma Xiao's arms were directly frozen, and his clothes were soaked.
At about 12:20, the rain became fierce and the wind continued to tear. Ambulances and rescuers appeared at CP2 one after another, and after determining that everyone had finished the stage, Ma Xiao rushed to the ambulance. After changing his shirt, the volunteer handed him a thermal blanket, and after eating a bucket of hot instant noodles, he felt warmed up.
The small stone house became a "natural refuge"
According to the local press conference, the race was carried out until noon, and at the 20 km to 31 km high altitude stage of the 100 km cross-country race, there was a sudden disaster weather, hail and freezing rain suddenly fell in a short period of time, accompanied by strong winds, and the temperature plummeted.
Ma Xiao remembers that between 12:20 and 1:00, the rain was the most intense. During this time period, Zhang Li and many runners are in the CP2 to CP3 stage, which is the most difficult 8 km long, the runners need to climb 1000 meters, and the road is relatively steep.
During the period of sheltering from the rain on the ambulance, Ma Xiao gradually saw the runners abandon the race and return. For a while, he also saw "about three centimeters of water flowing down the ravine."
Despite the strong wind and rapid rain, the tension did not immediately turn back, and it was not until an hour later, when he climbed the mountain, the wind continued to increase, which made him feel that "the body is not good." At this time, the tension was soaked up and down, and it was basically difficult to stand still, "The body is particularly cold, and without the storm jacket, I am a little scared." ”
(Contestant Zhang Xiaotao Photo/Baiyin Daily)
Player Zhang Xiaotao also posted on the social platform that in the CP2 to CP3 climbing section, the more up the wind and rain, the rain began to mix hail in the middle of the mountainside, all the way to the face, "My eyes began to blur, some can't see the road clearly." ”
Zhang Xiaotao also mentioned that after reaching the mountainside, Wu Panrong, a runner from Guizhou, began to talk and see that he was not in a good state, and the two ran together with their arms around each other. But then it may be that the wind is too strong and the road is too slippery, and they have to fall down when they walk, and then they slowly separate.
Zhang Li's heart began to hesitate. He was ready to rest by a rock, but as soon as he stopped, he noticed that his legs were cramping and his eyes were being beaten open by the rain. In a few short seconds, Tension decided to withdraw, "CP3 is not supplied, I am afraid that the body will lose temperature."
Zhang Li was the fifth player to withdraw. When he was about three kilometers away from CP2, he found a small stone house, which became a temporary shelter from the rain, and in hindsight, more like a "natural shelter".
During the retreat, Zhang Li met the runner and suggested that they return together, but the other party carried a stormtrooper suit with him and continued to move forward. But it wasn't long before the runner withdrew and hid in, and after a while, there were more than 40 people in the house.
The only rescuers in the small stone house contacted the Blue Sky Rescue Team, and nearby villagers also sent cotton clothes and old clothes. As the number of people pulling down increased, they realized that the event could be "broken". But the rescue vehicles could not reach, and the rescuers had to advise the athletes with good physical strength to go down, and the weak ones waited in place.
After putting on the villagers' cotton clothes, Zhang Li felt that his body was not so stiff. After an hour, realizing that waiting in place might not be a thing, he and some of the contestants returned to CP2 and were assigned to wait in the rescuers' private cars.
It wasn't until the contestants turned back that he was pulled back to the hotel, when it was already five o'clock in the afternoon.
Elite players can't go up and down
By the time the tensioners returned to the hotel, the elite runners at the front had already had an accident.
Player Gao Shuang posted on the "Exiled South" public account, describing the experience of the day: the players stranded on the mountain had different situations, some people lost temperature and caused the situation to be more serious, some people found a shelter to hug the group for warmth, and some people did not move the GPS position for several hours, and some people had no signal on the phone and could not get in touch.
Gao Shuang also mentioned that a female runner lost her temperature in a place that was close to reaching the top of the mountain. Fortunately, this female player was woken up by another female player, and woke up to find that her leg had broken and bled, but she did not remember how to break it, "Indicating that she lost consciousness during that time, I told her that you have to thank your sister for waking you up, you may almost die." ”
(Contestants encounter accidents)
Zhang Xiaotao said that in the climb section, he originally thought that he would get better after crossing the mountain, so he continued to run up. But because the wind was too strong, he kept wrestling, falling no less than ten times, his limbs were relatively stiff, and he felt that his body was slowly out of control until he could not get up after the last fall.
"At this time, I still had a little consciousness, so I quickly took the insulation blanket and put it on. Then I took out the GPS locator, pressed SOS, and then I passed out. He said.
Fortunately, the villagers who were herding sheep passed by, and Zhang Xiaotao had the hope of survival. Zhang Xiaotao recalled that after about two and a half hours in a coma on the mountain, the villager carried him into a cave, built a fire, took off his wet clothes, and wrapped him in a quilt. It was an hour before he woke up and became conscious.
Zhang Xiaotao also became the "only survivor in the top six" of the event. Trail runner Liang Jing, 5th Wu Panrong, 6th Huang Guanjun and others all appeared on the list of victims. Multiple contestants told China News Weekly that most of the victims were elite runners who ran ahead and "it is difficult to accept this tragedy."
If there are no surprises, this may be an opportunity for elite players to break through themselves, and in the past 3 years, Liang Jing has won consecutive championships here. A website called "Saike" records that at the 2020 Yellow River Stone Forest Cross-Country Race, his performance was at 8:38 minutes and 15 seconds.
In the view of Chen Shan, an industry insider in the cross-country running circle, if the organizing committee does not notify the cancellation of the race, the elite runners generally will not take the initiative to abandon the race. They run fast, the first to experience climbs and weather changes, at the same time, they pursue lightweight, generally short-sleeved shorts, do not carry a storm jacket, "in this case, the distance between the runners is far apart, it is difficult to travel together, want to go up and can not go up, want to withdraw is more difficult." ”
In Chen Shan's eyes, the Yellow River Stone Forest Cross-Country Race is indeed not difficult for Liang Jing, he ran the desert cross-country race, ran 300, 500 kilometers, just a hundred kilometers race not long ago, he also broke the record to win the championship.
Therefore, when he learned that Liang Jing was killed, Chen Shan mournfully posted the circle of friends, "I don't believe it, I don't believe it', I don't believe it's true."
The question mark to be straightened
On May 23, gansu provincial officials held a press conference. Zhang Xuchen, mayor of Baiyin City, Gansu Province, said that the incident was a public safety incident due to a sudden change in local weather, and the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government have set up an incident investigation team to further investigate the cause of the incident.
In addition to weather reasons, public opinion also pointed to the organizers of the event, questioning the existence of problems in the rules of the event, emergency plan, follow-up rescue and other aspects.
"I feel that the Yellow River Stone Forest has become less troughed in this competition, and the organizational work has become more delicate." But it was this year's game that went wrong, and it was a big problem. Gao Shuang said in the article.
As a family member of the victims, Lu Lu believes that there are many problems in this event. "There is no signal in some places, how can the contestants go to the rescue after being victimized?" Why aren't stormtrooper suits on the mandatory carry list? Why doesn't the local weather department give advance warning (for extreme weather)? Why is CP3 not replenished? Is the emergency plan of the organizing committee in place? ”
According to the general cross-country rules, the storm jacket is a mandatory item for the participants, and if they are not carried, even if they run to the finish line, the results will be invalidated. Chen Shan analyzed, "But this event is not mandatory, but as a recommended equipment written into the manual, many players will be warm equipment in advance into the transfer bag, so that after the weather suddenly cold can not guarantee the body temperature." ”
On the other hand, there are too few volunteer rescuers for the CP2 to CP3 stages. Chen Shan told China News Weekly that since only 172 people participated in the event, the organizers may have reduced the rescue manpower, which also caused the players to be unable to call for help in time after encountering difficulties.
A number of runners mentioned that this accident also sounded an alarm for the cross-country running circle, and even affected the holding of cross-country races in various places.
On the way back to the south, Zhang Li still felt trance-like. He told China Newsweek that although he had not encountered an accident, the accident had caused him psychological obstacles.
When registering for the race, Zhang Li's wife was worried about the danger of running at night, and Ben did not agree to his participation. Nowadays, cross-country running has almost become a life-saving race, and his wife has called again to "blame", so he has to take the phone to ensure that he will not engage in cross-country racing again.
"The impact of the unexpected result is far greater than the physical discomfort." He said so.
(Zhang Li, Ma Xiao, Chen Shan, and Lu Lu are pseudonyms)