The Storm and the Failures at Gansu’s Ultramarathon

On May 22, 2021, a sudden turn in the weather struck the Yellow River Stone Forest 100-kilometre trail race in Baiyin, in China’s northwestern Gansu province. Strong winds, frozen precipitation and falling temperatures swept the course. Twenty-one of the 172 competitors died. A subsequent provincial investigation said many had succumbed to acute hypothermia; it also found that organizers had failed to prepare for bad weather despite meteorological warnings.

According to that investigation, rain had begun by approximately 10:30 a.m., just over an hour after the start. By noon, 131 runners were undertaking an arduous 14-kilometre stretch at an altitude of 2,230 metres. There were no aid stations along that stretch to provide first aid, food or water. The report described failures not only in preparing the course but also in reaching runners once they needed help.

“At the most difficult point, at an altitude of 2,230 meters, the organizer didn’t provide medical rescue forces or any supplies,” the report said. It found that organizers had failed to improve communication on the riskiest portions of the route and had “failed to execute an efficient rescue after receiving calls for help.” They had not instructed runners to carry warm clothes or planned rest stops for adverse weather.

Local villagers and firefighters were among those who searched on foot for missing competitors. A later account by three Beijing Emergency Medical Center authors, published in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, described rescued runners being given clothes or quilts to keep warm and transferred rapidly to hospitals. The account said the remaining 151 competitors were rescued.

The provincial team called the disaster the result of “unstandardized organization and unprofessional operations.” By June 2021, five people employed by Gansu Shengjing Sports and Culture Development Co. Ltd., which managed the event, had been arrested. Authorities also imposed suspensions, warnings and demerits on 27 officials, including senior Baiyin officials. Those investigative findings and disciplinary measures preceded the later criminal sentences.

In December 2023, Xinhua reported that a court in Baiyin had sentenced five people involved in planning the race to prison terms ranging from three years to five and a half years. They were convicted of “organizing a large-scale event that led to a significant safety incident.” In Lanzhou, an official received four years and 10 months for dereliction of duty and bribery, and another received three and a half years for dereliction of duty, according to the same state-media report.

For survivor Zhang Xiaotao, one of the race’s fastest runners, returning to running did not mean returning immediately to competition. In June 2021, he said he had started running again but had no immediate plans to race. “Life is dull,” he wrote on Weibo. “But when you run, there is wind.”