Following the tragic loss of life due to extreme weather conditions at the Yellow River Stone Forest 100km in China, the International Trail Running Association (ITRA) has released a statement…
‘Regarding the recent tragedy in China at the Yellow River Stone Forest 100km, ITRA is deeply saddened by the loss of 21 lives and sends our deepest condolences to the families. The loss of one individual in our trail running community is heart-breaking and a loss of this magnitude is almost unbearable. We grieve, and as we grieve, we also hope that we can find opportunity to prevent similar loss in the future.
‘Our sport is one with inherent risk, and some aspects that many value in trail and ultrarunning -remote locations, wild landscapes, intense physical demands – magnify this risk. This risk is ultimately a shared responsibility. It is shared between race organizers, runners, and our community as a whole, and the risk can be effectively managed with cooperation and integrity from all sides.
‘At this point ITRA does not have the necessary details and information about the Yellow River Stone Forest 100km to fairly assess the safety measures in place. As such, we recommend open and honest examination and analysis of the events in order to learn what actions were valuable, what mistakes were made, and how we can keep our community safe in the future. Blame is not productive; we hope for collaboration with a collective goal of safety.
‘Our sport is rapidly growing, and ITRA seeks to ensure the values of our sport inform this growth in a responsible and safe manner. We will strive to continue helping race organizers and runners enjoy safe, authentic and challenging races where we can all celebrate finish lines in solidarity.
‘In this spirit we advise all race organizers to consider the safety and health guidelines we have in place and available on our website: itra.run/content/safety
‘Our medical and safety committee will use this opportunity to review and revise these guidelines with the most current information and provide an update later this summer. As our sport grows, we will continue to stay on the leading edge of runner safety.’
John Anderson, MD FACEP.
ITRA Medical and Safety Committee
