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19 Lost Runners Found
July 1999
A competition for rough-terrain runners turned into a fiasco yesterday (July 13, 1999) when most of the athletes took a wrong turn into the wilderness, and eight of them weren't found until after nightfall. Searchers found the missing competitors about 9:00 last night as they were struggling to find their way back.
They were among 45 participants in the Race Across California Enviro, which combines trail running, river kayaking, and road and mountain biking and is supposed to finish Friday in San Francisco.
Thirty-eight of the 45 contestants took a wrong turn early in the race, with most correcting their error while it was still daylight. But eight remained missing for 13 hours.
"If we hadn't been there, they would still be lost," said Sheriffs Lieutenant Keith Shannon. (Placer County) The missing runners appeared to be in good condition, Shannon said.
Dozens of searchers on foot and in 4-wheel-drive vehicles looked amid thick pine and fur groves in the High Sierra for the eight competitors, who were reported missing at 2:30 p.m. Their safe return last night brought a sigh of relief from Dave Homing, who organized the race. "My biggest concern (was) with Team Schwab," he said, referring to a group of Bay Area competitors sponsored by the brokerage firm. The members of the Schwab team were in the lead yesterday when - at the juncture of Barker Pass Road and the Rubicon Trail - they apparently became confused by race markings and went north instead of south. Nearly everyone behind the team followed the trail going, north, which leads toward Hell Hole Reservoir, mistakenly thinking it was the right direction.
"We should have taken a compass. We should never have been out there in that kind of wilderness without being prepared," said Jeff McClanahan, one of the runners who returned to the course after veering off. The temperatures, which fluctuated between 80 and 90 degrees, caused some runners to suffer from dehydration, and some required intravenous fluids. "It would have been nice to have better markings," said McClanahan.
The event began at 7:15 a.m. yesterday at Homewood Mountain Resort near Lake Tahoe, when the racers took off running for Loon Lake, an 18-mile destination that was supposed to be reached in less than five hours. Horning became worried at noon, when only six racers showed up at Loon Lake. By 2:30 p.m., after a few more racers had trickled in, he contacted authorities.
Even more people might have been missing if it were not for the alertness of racer Rebecca Rusch. Like others, Rusch started to take the wrong path toward Hell Hole Reservoir, but realized -- with the help of a compass and a passer-by -- that she was going in the wrong direction. Rusch then told all the other racers who were following her to turn back toward Barker Pass Road. "I was really happy that I ran into Rebecca," said Austin Murphy, a writer for Sports Illustrated who was racing in the event. "I ran out of food and water twice. Rebecca saved our butts. She had the patience to work out the discrepancy in navigation."
Some of the racers continued on to Loon Lake, and some returned to Homewood Mountain Resort. Some of those who finished the stage to Loon Lake then did the 55-mile bicycle stage to Coloma, which concluded the event's first day. Some participants said that the Schwab team's members may have become confused by orange tape that was strung along the course. Because other events had previously been held in the area, different paths had similar orange tape. It is not clear whether the Schwab team's members had compasses.
The racers who found their way to Loon Lake said they were not upset at race organizer Horning, a past winner of the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon. "I'm too tired to be mad at anyone," said McClanahan.
The four-day event was supposed to conclude by Friday, when the racers were to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and finish at Fort Point in San Francisco. Instead, the event is in doubt, although some racers want it to continue. Said Kevin Stuart, a Gilroy physician: "We'll continue. We came to finish the course."
Story from the San Francisco Chronicle
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