XPost: alt.crime, alt.politics.democrats, alt.news-media   
   XPost: misc.survivalism   
   From: nobody@dont-email.me   
      
   BEIJING — Twenty-one people running a mountain ultramarathon   
   have died in northwestern China after hail, freezing rain and   
   gale-force winds hit the high-altitude race, state media   
   reported Sunday.   
      
   After an all-night rescue operation in freezing temperatures   
   involving more than 700 personnel, rescuers were able to confirm   
   that 151 people were safe, out of a total of 172 participants.   
   Twenty-one had died, according to the official Xinhua News   
   Agency, which said the runners suffered from physical discomfort   
   and the sudden drop in temperature.   
      
   The runners were racing on an extremely narrow mountain path at   
   an altitude reaching 6,500-9,800 feet. The 100-kilometer, or 60-   
   mile race was held Saturday in the Yellow River Stone Forest   
   tourist site in Baiyin city in Gansu province.   
      
   Participants were not rookies. One of the deceased was a well-   
   known runner Liang Jing, who had won a 100 kilometer race in   
   Ningbo, reported the Paper, a state-backed newspaper based in   
   Shanghai.   
      
   A woman who worked for the race organizer, Gansu Shengjing   
   Sports Culture Development Co., said there were no predictions   
   of extreme weather for the day of the race, according to Beijing   
   News, a paper owned by the Beijing city government.   
      
   However, Baiyin city's local branch of the National Early   
   Warning Information Center had warned for the past three days of   
   hail and strong winds.   
      
   The race also followed a relatively established course, having   
   been held four times, according to an account posted online by a   
   participant in the race who quit and managed to make his way to   
   safety.   
      
   But the weather caught them off guard, and on the morning of the   
   race Saturday, he already sensed things were not normal. The   
   runners were not dressed for winter-like conditions, many   
   wearing short-sleeved tops.   
      
   “I ran 2 kilometers before the starting gun fired to warm up ...   
   but the troublesome thing was, after running these 2 kilometers,   
   my body still had not heated up,” the competitor said in a first-   
   person account that has been viewed more than 100,000 times on   
   his WeChat account “Wandering about the South.”   
      
   He later told the Paper that the forecast the day prior to the   
   race did not predict the extreme weather they encountered.   
      
   The most difficult section, from kilometer mile 15 to mile 22,   
   climbed 3,280 feet. There, he said the path was just a mix of   
   stones and sand, and his fingers grew numb from the cold.   
      
   When he finally decided to turn back, he already felt dazed. He   
   said he was able to make it to safety and met a rescue crew. He   
   did not respond to a request for comment left on his social   
   media account.   
      
   Some runners farther along the course had fallen off the trail   
   into deep mountain crevices, according to a reporter for state   
   broadcaster CCTV. It was not clear how many of them survived.   
      
   Video footage showed rescuers in winter jackets in the pitch-   
   dark night searching with flashlights along steep hills and   
   narrow paths. Search operations ended by noon Sunday, rescuers   
   told Xinhua.   
      
   Online, some wondered what, if any preparations organizers had   
   made in the event of an emergency. The race organizer did not   
   immediately respond to calls seeking comment Sunday.   
      
   Baiyin city Mayor Zhang Xuchen held a news conference later   
   Sunday and profoundly apologized as the organizer of the event.   
   The government promised a full investigation.   
      
   “We express deep condolences and sympathy to the families of the   
   victims and the injured,” the mayor said.   
      
   Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan and news   
   researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.   
      
   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/21-runners-die-extreme-   
   weather-china-ultramarathon-n1268293   
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)