‘Airlifting entrants doesn’t mean Southern Lakes Ultra was unsafe’
The organiser of the international Southern Lakes Ultra, which created headlines when six competitors were choppered to Queenstown’s hospital last week, maintains she still ran a safe event.
Queenstowner Kerryn Bell says some of the runners rescued near Arrowtown have admitted they were at fault.
She notes they all spent only a short time at hospital and, apart from a woman who suffered a slightly-fractured pelvis, all returned to complete the six-stage race.
Those choppered out included only one who was ‘‘technically hypothermic’’, she says.
Two competitors out of 98 have raised safetyconcerns, along with a sibling of the injured woman, however many others, including the hypothermic woman, have praised the organisers.
Bell, who’s accused media of misinformation, including reports a race official had to be lifted out, says two groups of three were choppered off the course.
Three were among six tail-enders stopped at Roses Hut last Tuesday night, about 8km from where most were camping at Macetown.
‘‘One lady left Roses Hut, had a slip on the slippery grass, hurt her hip, walked back to the hut and we kept her overnight.
‘‘The next morning, it was too cold and wet and our crew decided to withdraw her from the race — she would end up needing a rescue.’’
‘Some athletes made dumb decisions’
Two others, ‘‘who were cold but not technically deemed hypothermic’’, were also taken out.
The other three had got about 2km from the Macetown camp, including hypothermia victim, Christchurch’s Jan Robinson.
Bell says they also evacuated a 70-year-old man and 58-year-old woman who’d ‘‘been out there too long, and we thought it’s going to
take them four hours to walk the last 2km, and that’s essentially going to put them at risk’’.
She notes her event, originally run, without incident, a year ago, recently passed a 10-year health and safety audit.
This year she had 37 crew — 27 on the course and 10 in Arrowtown — including a doctor and two cops, one with search and rescue experience, ‘‘so one crew for every three athletes’’.
During registration, Bell says there was a comprehensive mandatory gear check.
She adds athletes were also given ample course info and shown videos and images.
The night ahead of the cold front, they were reminded again about taking all their mandatory gear, Bell says.
Arrowtown councillor Lisa Guy told Stuff thermals, hats and gloves should also be mandatory.
Thermals are, Bell says, while hats and gloves are optional — ‘‘that’s something we’ll maybe make mandatory next year’’.
‘‘Our mountain crew said [some athletes] made some dumb decisions, they had road shoes, they didn’t even have trail shoes.’’
Some of those airlifted out told her they didn’t act on signs of being cold soon enough.
‘‘We have a briefing and we tell them, but I can’t mother them.
‘‘People are entering an out door adventure race, not an indoor basketball game.’’
Family of some competitors have criticised organisers for not communicating with them when the drama unfolded.
Bell says in athlete emails they’d only committed to contacting family or emergency contacts if they came to grief.
She also told them she’d be out of contact for two days but there were two other contact numbers for them during that time.
An experienced ultrarunner herself, Bell says even she’s been airlifted out of a race.
‘‘Last year we did a review and there were things we changed and improvements, and we’ll do that this year, and we’ll do it next year, we’ll continue to do it.’’
Hypothermic competitor puts her hand up
The only hypothermic competitor lifted out last week, Jan Robinson, of Christchurch, says she takes responsibility for her predicament.
‘‘I didn’t put my extra layers in a dry bag, so that would have helped, although it would have got wet pretty quickly after that.
‘‘Also, I left it too late to put [extra layers] on, I was already cold’’ — not helped by her lack of body fat, she says.
Robinson says she’s also found she needs to be a bit stronger in her upper body to compete in such a gruelling event.
‘‘This was really my first event where I’ve done nighttime running, and I should have had more experience of that.’’
Robinson says she’s can’t fault Kerryn Bell’s emphasis on health and safety, including stressing to competitors, the night before the cold front, to carry all their mandatory gear, run in groups and look after each other.
‘‘She’s very transparent, very open and honest, and we sign waivers — you don’t sign up to a jog around Ponsonby footpaths, this is mountain running.’’
Despite her experience, Robinson says she’ll sign up again next year.
