Moab 240 cut short after 70 runners and volunteers were rescued

MOAB — An ultramarathon in Moab was cut short following the rescue of 70 runners and volunteers who were stranded due to floodwaters.

The runners and volunteers participating in the Moab 240 Saturday were forced to stay in an area near Bridger Jack Mesa when a storm hit parts of the marathon and made Cottonwood Creek unsafe to pass through, according to Destination Trail, the organizer for Moab 240. The event is a 241.8-mile ultramarathon that takes runners through areas surrounded by Canyonlands and Arches National Park.

Sunday afternoon, organizers said on Facebook, "After a lot of careful discussion, we've made the incredibly difficult decision to call the Moab 240. The weather has become too dangerous to safely continue — we've received reports of aid station structures blowing away, trees falling down, wind, rain, freezing temps — and we're expecting conditions to get worse tonight."

Participants talk about the marathon

Andrea Christensen was pacing her friend during this year's sold-out marathon when she decided to keep a close eye on the weather throughout the race.

"The whole morning I was just like looking at the sky, waiting. When is it going to kick in? How bad is it going to be?" Christensen said. "Because last year, it was stormy and there was a lot of mud, and people get cold, but they know, signing up for this race, that they're signing up for all potential conditions."

With a race like this one, Christensen said all runners and their pacers have required gear to stay safe, like pants, an insulated layer, a waterproof jacket, gloves, and anything else the pacer or runner can carry on them.

Even though she was prepared for the worst and was watching the weather closely, Christensen said Saturday started out well.

"It was beautiful for hours and hours and hours on Saturday with a little bit of sprinkling here and there," Christensen said. "It started to rain pretty significantly for about 20 minutes when my runner and I were at Bridger Jack. That was probably around noon or 1 p.m., but then it cleared out, and it was nice again."

Freezing rain finally poured down on Christensen and her runner by the time the two reached Shea Mountain. The area where the runners were located provided no coverage due to the Babylon Fire, which took out many trees in the area and created a burn scar, making traction difficult.

"You're climbing this big steep mountain that's pretty exposed from the fire. You know, there's no leaves on these trees. We saw lightning. The mountain was so slick. The mud was so slick that it was scary going up," Christensen said. "And then for miles, we had a descent into the next aid station into Shea Mountain and the mud, again, it was so slick."

Up to this point, Christensen and her runner had discussed how certain they were to get through the race, but within the last couple hours of the race, that discussion changed.

"I shifted, and I was like, 'But safety first. Like, if it becomes unsafe out here or you ever feel unsafe or you can't get warm, you drop because, you know, no goal is worth your safety and other runners' safety,'" Christensen said. "And I was telling him like, 'If I was in charge of this race, I would be canceling it, feels so dangerous right now.'"

As Moab 240 continued, Christensen decided to head home at Mile 115, while her runner kept going.

Little did Christensen know, 70 runners and volunteers would be isolated Saturday night, forcing runners to turn around and head back to an aid station called Bridger Jack Aid Station. Destination Trail decided to keep the runners at the aid station overnight, where all runners and volunteers had access to heated tents, hot food, and drinking water, according to a Destination Trail Instagram post.

Grand County Emergency Services were notified by Destination Trail on Saturday. Early Sunday, a helicopter was surveying the area to see where runners could safely exit. By 11 a.m., buses were sent out to pick up the stranded runners after responders escorted them out of the area, according to an updated Instagram story from Destination Trail.

"We know this isn't how anyone hoped Moab 240 would go. So many of you trained for months and traveled a long way to be here, and we're truly sorry the race ended this way," Destination Trail said. "Sometimes the weather has other plans, and when it does, everyone's safety has to come first. Thank you for your patience, your grace, and the way you looked out for each other last night and today."

Destination Trail also thanked a deputy and local responders who got everyone out safely.

"I know they make it clear that people are signing up for all weather conditions that you need to have what you need to survive in all weather conditions, but at some point it does feel unnecessarily risky to have people out there," Christensen said. "So when I came home and saw that there were a bunch of runners stopped at Bridger Jack, that there was flash flooding, that now people are there for hours and hours and hours shivering. That to me just kind of reinforced that."

Contributing: Bryanna Willis

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