Over the past 10 years there has been an explosion in the number of events denoting themselves as “Extreme”. These events vary in nature, some of which find their genes in the 30-year-old Des Sables (Marathon of the Sands) marathon, where today more than 1000 runners take temperatures from 40 to 50 degrees in the Sahara desert in Morocco. They travel for 6 six days, covering about 250 km, carrying all products and equipment. They are provided with water and medical assistance.
There are several qualification standards for this race. Organizers need only medical certification from a doctor, as well as a printout of the ECG trace. Both of these items are checked by the medical staff of the event the day before the race. If any unevenness is detected, the participant is rejected. In the 30-year history of the race, only two participants died. Both runners died of a cardiovascular pathology that probably existed, but was not raised. More closed calls were made, where in some cases medical evacuations were carried out to the hospital. The cause of this is usually dehydration and hyperthermia. In some cases, in a few cases, the participants plunged into a coma.
Given the large number of participants each year, the race can be considered reliable safety. This is probably due to good preparation and close support from the organizers, since there are no specific qualification standards. However, not all races enjoy the luxury of 4x4 cars, quad bikes and helicopters all over the course, many of them take place in remote places where access to the car is impossible or extremely difficult. These are events in which the ability of participants to take care of themselves can be the key to their survival.
If you take the example of distance mountain racing, such as the Dead Sheep Marathon, Homme or Dragon, all participants are expected to move independently through remote and rugged terrain, often in very bad weather conditions. These types of mountain marathons require you to submit your racial experience to the organizer for review. OMM has relatively low standards in terms of acceptability. These events are looking for a walking experience on the hill, orienteering and navigation at a minimum. When you consider the Dead Sheep Marathon, the entry criteria are much more stringent.
First of all, all participants must send an email to the organizer, demonstrating that they can use the compass, taking and following a place somewhere in their locality. The video should include a short biography that will serve as evidence of their race. This may include successful 100-mile races, the completion of mountain marathons or the completion of any of the three British Mountain Rounds; Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley or Ramsay Round. Then the video is viewed by the organizers, and if successful, the participant is associated with details on how to proceed to the next stage.
These are strict safety protocols like these that must be adopted by other race organizers to ensure that people who enter the starting line are competent in practice, not just on paper. The organizer can then gain some confidence that the participant can safely be released in the hills with a reasonable expectation that they will not need to be rescued. Let everyone work together to increase the competence of runners in extreme races, as well as reduce the number of incidents and deaths.
