7| 21 Gone: Ultramarathon Disaster

Ask any runner, and we will confirm that running becomes and obsession. It’s a total mind and body take over and no matter what other exercise we find ourselves partaking in, nothing compares. 

We often don’t remember the hard parts. We remember the happy, the sometimes scary, the complete peace that comes with long distance running. We glance over the hard days of training and racing and romanticize the experience. 

Covering kilometers that often leave people gaping, we will confirm that  the runner's high is exactly as incredible of a feeling as described. We all have those moments, we’ve all hit the wall and we have all experienced the muscle and joint pain that comes when a race was harder than we expected. We’ve all shown up underfed, overspent and undertrained. And we’ve all contemplated dropping out, when a friendly face shouts “you’ve only got a few more miles.” And your vigor is restored. 

Some of us do it because we love running. Some of us are looking for anything that will keep us outdoors. Some of us do it for the t-shirt or to be able to post the medal-Monday picture on social media. Some of us walk away with ginormous smiles and some of us hobble away injured. Some of us have found that this is a place that we can excel, and money earned seems like a bonus. The reasons for running miles beyond what others would are as plentiful as the personalities of those running. 

And still, on a spring day in china, this blissful feeling was not experience. All 172 participants experienced fear, cold and dread as a storm rolled in. Eight of these runners barely made it out, and another 21 dropped dead. 

Welcome to Tragedy with a View. 

Sources

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gansu_ultramarathon_disaster

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/world/asia/china-ultramarathon-survivor.html

https://news.ultrasignup.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-running-100k/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/sports/ultramarathon-china-runners.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/11/china-punishes-27-officials-after-deadly-ultramarathon.html

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvz7da/china-gansu-ultramarathon

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-deadliest-ultramarathon-claimed-21-runners-yellow-river-stone-forest-china-11633282937

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a30430651/more-people-are-running-ultras-study/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/26/survivors-and-bereaved-seek-answers-after-21-deaths-in-china-ultramarathon

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/world/asia/china-ultramarathon-deaths.html

https://runninglevel.com/running-times/100k-times

https://m.jiemian.com/article/6155382.html

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/china-gansu-ultramarathon-deaths-tragedy/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/16/china-ultramarathon-tragedy-gansu-fad/

https://www.trailrunnermag.com/people/assessing-the-aftermath-of-the-chinese-ultrarunning-tragedy/

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/gansu/2013-10/24/content_17055979.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingtai_County

https://www.nspirement.com/2021/06/01/deadly-gansu-ultramarathon.html