Reflections on Risk
By Shane Ohly from Ourea Events
Following the tragic death of a participant in the PTL at the UTMB this year, Brian Metzler from Outside Magazine has published an interesting article posing two important questions for organisers and participants.
No all mountain running is the same… Katie Mills ‘runs’ the classic Welsh ridge ‘Crib Goch’ on day one of the 2021 Montane Dragon’s Back Race® before going on to dominate the women race. ©No Limits Photography.
“…does the small but fast-growing discipline of mountain ultrarunning have a safety problem? Or was the latest death of a participant in a high-level international event merely the result of an unfortunate accident?”
From the reporting, I have seen about the PTL death at the UTMB, the participant was carrying, but not using, their helmet and via Ferrata kit, despite being on steep terrain protected ‘with a guide rope’. This raises the challenging question of where the onus for taking responsibility for safety lies, with the participant or with the organiser.
Catherine Poletti, president of the UTMB Group and co-founder of the UTMB alongside Michel Poletti, said in the Outside article that the race organization goes to exhaustive lengths to provide participants with every detail about the course and conditions, but maintaining personal safety is the responsibility of each athlete.
My belief is that organisers have an obligation to ensure that their events are as safe as possible, but without diminishing the nature of the challenge... The nature of the challenge, for mountain running events, is usually arduous, and although extremely unlikely, there is an inherent risk of serious injury or death whilst participating in races of this nature. Indeed, this sense of risk is arguably part of the appeal for many runners.
At the events organised by Ourea Events, we go to great lengths to convey this concept of balancing responsibility between the organiser and the participant. We want to make it clear that we are not trying to create a risk-free activity for potential participants.
Take motor racing or cycling as an alternative example to mountain running. Most people understand that there is an element of risk when participating in these sports but very few people would argue that they should be banned because they are inherently dangerous.
Within these sports, the organisers take certain measures to mitigate risk without altering the fundamental challenge, for example, both sports require participants to wear helmets whilst competing, but participants still race around the course as fast as possible.
We require participants to carry appropriate clothing and equipment for the mountainous environment in which they participate (just like wearing a cycle helmet). A small number of participants will choose to race the course as fast as they can and that is ultimately part of the ‘Nature of the Challenge’ for some. This phrase, the Nature of the Challenge, is very important. We often return to this concept when deliberating about the design of an event and the level of risk to which participants will be exposed.
At the Salomon Glen Coe Skyline – arguably the most dangerous running event in the world - we insist that participants meet certain conditions, such as having an appropriate level of experience and carrying appropriate clothing and equipment for the mountainous environment in which they participate.
Andrew Fellas on the borderline between rock climbing and mountain running whilst on his way to victory at the 2021 Salomon Glen Coe Skyline. © No Limits Photography
As the Glen Coe Skyline organiser, it is our role to put in place the logistics, support and safety management systems to make the race happen without ‘designing in additional risk’. The notation of ‘designing in additional risk’ is also important (but that’s a whole other thread). We understand that these can be nuanced considerations, but it is something that we consider very, very carefully.
To answer the two questions posed by Metzler. In my experience, many races only get away without having serious accidents by pure luck and there is clearly a massive capability gap between different race organisers. However, a degree of risk is the crucial ingredient of adventure sports, and as a community of participants and organisers, we must accept this whilst balancing the exposure to risk of novice and inexperienced runners.
If you are interested in this topic and many others adventure sport event organiser face, please consider attending the Adventure Sports Events Conference organised jointly by Ourea Events and Open Tracking.