A mountain athlete dies after suffering a fall in the UTMB TDS

This past dawn, a Czech rider who participated in the TDS suffered a fall in the descent of the Passeur de Pralognan at km 62,3 of the competition.

The TDS is one of the tests that are part of the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail, the most prestigious mountain event in the world.

It was about very dangerous area and a critical point in which the runners must hold on to some ropes to carry out the descent, but the young man did not.

Bad weather and the presence of snow water on the descent were also decisive, according to 20 minutes.

The rescue operation responded immediately and went to the point where the victim was, who had to be rescued by helicopter.

A very complicated situation due to the darkness of the night, to which was added the fact that the runners that came from behind were crowding together and the light from their fronts did not facilitate the rescue work.

Meeting urgently, the organization of the test decided neutralize the race, so that the 1.200 athletes who had not yet gone through that point had to stop and go down to Bourg Saint-Maurice, since all the rescue personnel focused on this accident and if another mishap had happened, no action could have been taken. Only 260 numbers are still in the test.

The TDS the most technical test of the UTMB

This test is one of the hardest and most technical of all, since it has a 145 kilometer route with 9.100 meters of positive elevation gain and a time limit of 44 hours to contest it.

On the route there 15 technical sections with ropes and in one of them there is a team of experienced guides to help runners.

The UTMB will continue its course with the dispute of the rest of the races: this Thursday the OCC (57 kilometers) will be held and on Friday the CCC (101 km) and the queen of the weekend, the UTMB (170 kilometers) will take place.