A 50-mile ultramarathon race through the Utah Mountains turned perilous on Saturday when extreme weather conditions, including swirling winds and massive snowfall, forced officials to shut down the event and conduct an hours-long rescue of the participants.
The unexpected stoppage occurred at the "DC Peaks 50 race" - a grueling, 50 mile ultramarathon in Northern Utah starting at East Mountain Wilderness Park, with approximately 12,000 feet of vertical gain and 10,000 feet of descent. It’s composed of 71% trails, 24% service roads and 2.5 miles of paved road, ending at Tunnel Springs Park in North Salt Lake.
The race began at 5:30 a.m., and after 7:30 a.m., winds gusted to speeds as high as 40 miles per hour and snowfall piled up to 12 to 18 inches, prompting officials to prematurely terminate the competition.
Organizers contacted the Davis Sheriff’s Office at 9:30 a.m. to ask them for assistance in finding the 87 runners scattered throughout the course near the top of Farmington Canyon.
Search teams, comprised of the sheriff’s office, local first responders, and race organizers, spent the next several hours wandering the course on foot, while also using 4x4 off-road vehicles and snowmobiles.
By 2:45 p.m., all the runners were successfully accounted for.
Authorities said that "a few" of the runners were treated for hypothermia, while another participant suffered a minor injury from a fall.
They were all released at the scene.
"It certainly, without a doubt, could have ended up much worse for many of those participants," Davis County Sheriff Kelly V. Sparks told SFGate. "We had serious concerns that some of the folks . . . if somebody hadn't been able to get to them quickly and get them rewarmed, they could have been in great jeopardy."
Ultramarathons are extreme versions of the typical 26.2 mile races, with courses expanded to 50 or even 100 mile lengths. Marathons usually take place throughout cities, while ultramarathons run through small towns and lengthy trails, forcing participants to sometimes traverse severe conditions and terrain.
Annie Macdonald, one of the 87 participants, told the outlet she was "just miserably, miserably cold" and without the organizers rapid response, the situation could have turned "incredibly tragic for people."
"I just kept thinking, okay, be smart. Don't get injured, because if you get injured, you can't keep moving, and you've got to keep moving," Macdonald explained. "And so that was what I kept telling myself. But even then, it was still scary for me, because I've never been that cold. And you just think, how can I be this cold?"
Sheriff Sparks told SFGate that her office would speak with the organizers of the race "to educate them and help them understand better how to get better information and better contact with us before a race begins."
