One dead and three injured during an ultra-trail: “I saw people flying, hitting in all directions, screaming then disappearing in the dark”

Plus de 4 000 coureurs participaient à l’ultra-trail. Envato Elements – Illustration

L’ultra-trail du Haut Giffre en Haute-Savoie a viré au drame samedi 15 juin. Sur le site du Parisien, des participants décrivent des scènes apocalyptiques.

One dead and three injured, two of whom were serious: the Haut Giffre ultra-trail in Haute-Savoie, in which more than 4,000 runners participated, turned into a tragedy on Saturday June 15, as we reported it yesterday. In particular: deplorable weather conditions, even if no particular alert had been issued by Météo France.

On the site of Parisien, participants describe apocalyptic scenes. One of them saw “people flying, hitting in all directions, screaming then disappearing into the dark” . Another saw right in front of him “people unscrewing for 300 m and injuring themselves, screaming in fear” and wonders how the organizers could have sent them into this nightmare given the weather forecast.

You will suffer because there will be deluges of water. It's going to be cold, a lot of wind, plus rain, it's going to be very hard.

Our colleagues emphasize that the tone was set shortly before the start, Friday around 11:45 p.m.: the race will be difficult, very difficult. “It’s not bitumen, it’s mountains. So I'm going to ask you to be very, very careful, to go very slowly, warned the speaker, quoted by the daily. It's going to be zero degrees […] You're going to suffer because there's going to be deluges of water […] It's going to be cold, a lot of wind, plus rain, it's going to be very hard .”

The deceased runner is a 52-year-old man, who died on the spot from a cardio-respiratory injury. An autopsy must be carried out to find out the exact reasons for his death. The other three victims are also men. They suffered in particular from head trauma, after falling “in a mountainous area made slippery by the weather conditions", according to the public prosecutor of Bonneville Karline Bouisset, quoted by the AFP.

"Deep sadness"

The investigation, opened to "research into the causes of death" and "endangering the lives of others" was entrusted to the Bonneville research brigade with the support of the PGHM of Chamonix "in order to shed light on the precise circumstances of these accidents and establish or rule out & rsquo;possible criminal responsibilities".

On Facebook Saturday evening, the organizers shared their “deep sadness” : “We announce that the UTHG has just experienced a dramatic event with the accidental death of a runner. The rescuers present on site intervened immediately and provided first aid while waiting for his evacuation. All our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the victim.”

An ultra-trail is a foot race whose distance exceeds that of a standard marathon (more than 42.195 kilometers). These events with a particularly high challenge, generally take place in natural environments such as mountains, forests or deserts. Ultra-trails can range from 50 kilometers to several hundred kilometers. Enough to seriously test the physical and mental capacities of the participants.