When Zhang Xiaotao woke up, he was in a cave and someone lit a fire to keep him warm. He doesn’t know how he got there.
Zhang’s frozen unconscious body was found by a passing shepherd who wrapped him in a cotton blanket and carried him over his shoulder to safety. He is one of the lucky ones.
In May this year, 21 competitors died at an ultra-fast track event in northern China affected by extreme weather conditions: hail, heavy rain and violent winds that sent temperatures plummeting. and no one seems to be prepared for that.
Only a small number feel comfortable talking about what happened – and some have been threatened for doing so.
The sun was out on race day in Baiyin, a former mining area in China’s Gansu province. Some 172 runners were ready to run 62 miles (100km) through the Yellow Stone Forest National Park.
The organizers were expecting good conditions – they had had mild weather for the previous three years. They even arranged for some of their opponents’ anti-freeze gear to be moved forward along the track so they could retrieve it later in the day.
But as soon as Zhang reached the starting line, a cold wind began to blow. Several runners gathered at a nearby gift shop for shelter, many of them shivering in short-sleeved shirts and shorts.
Zhang started the race well. He was one of the fastest to get to the first checkpoint, doing light work on craggy mountain trails. Things started to go awry just before the second checkpoint, about 20km into the course.
“I was halfway up the mountain when the hail started to fall,” he later wrote in a post on Chinese social media. “My face was crushed by rocks and my vision was blurred, making it difficult for me to see the road clearly.”
However, Zhang continued. He passed Huang Guanjun, the winner of the men’s deaf marathon at China’s 2019 National Paralympic Games, who was doing badly. He met another athlete, Wu Panrong, with whom he has kept pace since the beginning.
Wu was shaking and his voice was shaking as he spoke. Zhang put his arm around him and the pair continued to be together, but quickly the wind became too strong, and the ground was so slippery that they were forced to separate.
As Zhang continued his ascent, he was overpowered by the wind, at speeds of up to 55mph. He had risen from the ground many times, but now because of the freezing cold he was starting to lose control of his limbs. The temperature felt is -5C. This time when he fell, he couldn’t get up.
Thinking quickly, Zhang covered himself with an insulating blanket. He took out his GPS tracker, pressed the SOS button, and passed out.
Near the end of the field, another runner, who goes by the alias Liuluo Nanfang, was hit by freezing rain. It felt like bullets hit his face.
As he advanced, he saw someone walking towards him, coming down from the top of the mountain. The runner-up said it was too cold, he could not stand it and would retire.
But Nanfang, like Zhang, decided to move on. The higher he went, the stronger the wind and the colder he felt. He saw a few more opponents descending on the way up the mountain. His whole body was drenched, including his shoes and socks.
When he finally realized he had to stop, he found a relatively sheltered place and tried to warm up. He took out the insulated blanket and wrapped it around his body. It was immediately blown away by the wind as he had almost lost all feeling and control in his fingers. He put a pill in his mouth, held it for a long time, but it didn’t help.
When Nanfang started to return to the mountain, his vision was blurred and he was shaking. He felt very confused but knew he had to try.
Halfway there, he met a member of the rescue team that had been dispatched after the weather changed. He was led to a wooden hut. Inside, there were at least 10 other people who had decided to retreat before him. About an hour later, that number was up to about 50. Some spoke of seeing competitors collapsed on the side of the road, foaming at the mouth.
“When they say this, their eyes are red,” Nanfang later wrote on social media.
Zhang, meanwhile, was saved by the shepherd, who removed his wet clothes and wrapped him in a cotton blanket. Inside the cave, he was not alone.
When he arrived, about an hour later, there were other fugitives also taking shelter, some of whom had also been rescued by the shepherd. The group waited for him to wake up so they could go down the mountain together.
Below, paramedics and armed police were waiting. More than 1,200 rescuers were deployed throughout the night with the help of thermal imaging drones and radar detectors, according to state media.
The next morning, authorities confirmed that 21 people had died, including Huang, whom Zhang overtook, and Wu, the runner he caught up with at the start of the race.
A later report found that the organizers did not take action despite severe weather warnings during the run to the event.
When news of the deaths spread on social media, many questioned how the tragedy was possible. Some competitors, such as Zhang and Nanfang, have chosen to write about their experience online to help people understand what it’s like.
But Zhang’s post, written under the name ‘Brother Tao is running’, disappeared shortly after it was published.
When Caixin – a Beijing-based news website – retweeted his testimony, a week later a new post appeared on the account, begging the media and internet users to society leave him and his family alone.
Later, it was reported that Zhang had suspended his account after people questioned his story. Some accused him of showing off as the lone survivor at the top of the herd, others sent him death threats.
“We don’t want to be internet celebrities,” he wrote online, adding that the person who saved him also faced pressure from the media and “other aspects”.
“Our lives need to be quiet,” he wrote. “Please everyone, especially friends in the media, don’t bother me and don’t question me.”
Survivors are not the only ones who find themselves under pressure.
A woman who lost her father in the race has been targeted for abuse on Weibo after questioning how her father was “allowed to die”. She is accused of spreading false rumors and using “foreign forces” to spread negative stories about China.
Another woman, Huang Yinzhen, whose brother has died, is watched by local officials, who she claims are trying to prevent relatives from talking to each other.
“They just prevented us from communicating with other family members or reporters, so they continued to spy on us,” she said. told the New York Times.
In China, it is common for relatives of those who have died in similar circumstances – where authorities face the blame – to pressure them to remain silent. For the government, social media attention on any possible setbacks is unwelcome.
A month after the race, in June, 27 local officials were punished. Jingtai County Communist Party Secretary, Li Zuobi, was found dead. He died after falling from the apartment he was living in. Police rule out murder.
The Baiyin marathon is just one of many in a country experiencing a running boom. Its tragic outcome has put the future of these events in doubt.
According to the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), in 2018 China hosted 40 times more marathons than in 2014. The CAA says there were 1,900 “running races” in the country in 2019.
Before Covid hit, many small towns and regions tried to capitalize on this by organizing events to attract more tourism to the area and boost the local economy.
After what happened in Baiyin, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China accused the organizers of some of the country’s races of “focusing on economic interests” while they “didn’t want to invest.” invest more in safety”.
With Beijing’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics just a few months away, China has suspended extreme sports such as trail running, cross-country and flying suit while it revises regulations. come back safely. It is not yet clear when they will restart. It has been reported that not even a chess tournament can escape the new measures.
But without events like this, those wanting to participate, possibly even future star athletes, are feeling frustrated. In some cases, like Outside Magazine shows that athletes can work things out on their own, venturing into the mountains without any regulation, and putting themselves at risk.
Mark Dreyer, moderator China Sports Insider website, wrote on Twitter: “If this has removed the top layer of the massive join pyramid – as it seems possible – there is no telling what effect that will have at lower levels.
“The long-term effects of this tragic – and avoidable – accident can also be significant.”
