172 RUNNERS STARTED THIS ULTRAMARATHON-21 OF THEM NEVER CAME BACK

YAN DAIXIANG SQUINTED THROUGH DENSE, FREEZING FOG AS SHE STRUGGLE TO MAKE OUT HER SURROUNDINGS

- WUFEI YU AND WILL FORD

Runners were scattered everywhere—off the trail, in ravines, on the other side of the mountain—dotting the hillside in brightly colored athletic gear. It was hard to tell loose clothing and people apart. People trudged in every direction, struggling against freezing wind and rain. Others huddled around bushes or boulders.

Some runners passed Yan, heading back down the mountain. They’d tried to reach the race’s third checkpoint at mile 17 but failed. They were retreating now, back to the second checkpoint, to drop out.

“It’s way too cold on the top at the third checkpoint,” one cautioned Yan.

The temperature had been dropping consistently since the rain had started. It would get colder the higher she climbed. Yan was still going up.

Most of the runners were wearing shorts and T-shirts. Racers had been encouraged to stow their warm clothes in a drop bag, which they could pick up at mile 39, at the sixth checkpoint. But few had expected they would need extra layers: the Yellow River Stone Forest 100K took place in a desert, and in previous years runners had battled heatstroke, not hypothermia. The bags, if they had anything warm in them, were nearly 20 miles away.

Yan was lucky; she had brought warmer clothes with her. She donned long pants and a jacket, and decided to keep moving.

There was a mile left to climb before the next checkpoint. Around her, more dots of neon color covered the mountainside—crawling, lying on the ground, standing but barely moving. Yan approached an elderly man whose eye was bleeding. He insisted he was fine.