China bans ultramarathons and off-road races after 21 die in Gansu tragedy
- Races in mountainous areas, cross-desert, ultra distance and other newly popular sports activities that involve high risk have been suspended
- General Administration of Sport acts on safety and organisation after competitors caught in sudden storm in race in Gansu province
The Chinese government has banned all ultramarathon-styled races in the wake of the tragedy that saw 21 runners die during the Yellow River Stone Forest 100km Trail Race in Gansu province.
On May 22, during a mountain cross-country competition, 21 runners died after being caught in a sudden storm and freezing temperatures. The tragedy shocked China and the rest of the world. The race organisers were heavily criticised on a number of fronts in terms of safety planning and logistics.
The tragedy was followed by a string of suspensions and now the General Administration of Sport of China has declared a range of running disciplines as insufficiently regulated and lacking well-defined safety standards, and suspended all these types of races, effective immediately.
The announcement said in Chinese that: “On the 22nd of May, the public safety incident at Bayin City Stone Forest 100km Trail Race in Gansu Province, in part due to sudden changes in weather, caused a great loss of human life – a lesson imbued with deeply felt grief.
“In order to fully guarantee the health and to safeguard the lives of the people, races in mountainous areas, cross-desert races, ultra distance races and other such newly popular sport activities that involve high risk, management duties are unclear, regulations not perfected and safety standards not clear-cut, are suspended from this day.”
The GAS is now expected to carry out a thorough examination of races and their organisational standards in relation to safety. The GAS also highlighted the need to make emergency rescue, pandemic prevention and topographic and meteorological factors the central issues in the organisation of events, and also to carry out comprehensive assessments of risks that may be involved.
Runners trapped on mountain by deadly storm rescued by a cave-dwelling goat herder
The statement also said that races will now also be suspended at the first sign of danger and safety accidents must be prevented from happening again.
No timeline has been given and it is unclear what races are included under the broad categories mentioned in the announcement, but the suspension is likely to apply to most races held outside urban areas and not on asphalted roads, as well as 12- and 24-hour races, and road races longer than the marathon distance.
China’s running boom started around a decade ago and has since seen a proliferation of ultramarathons (races longer than marathon distance of 42km), trail, desert and high-altitude races with hundreds of events held across the country every year.
The largest trail running events in China, such as the Chongli 100, attract thousands of participants and many have internationally acclaimed standards of organisation.
Chinese ultramarathon deaths prompt new focus on runners’ safety
Some of the world’s best runners have come to China recently to complete, including France’s triple Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) champion Francois D’haene; Lithuania’s Ultra Trail World Tour champion Gediminas Grinius; and Western States, Marathon des Sables and UTMB champion Nikki Kimball, of the US.
China’s running community, which is estimated somewhere in the tens of millions when it comes to marathon length events, were shut out of races last year like the rest of the world. Since the resumption of events in China a few months ago, most races have booked out quickly.
