2 dead, 300 casualties during four day walk
- Thread starter Frank
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it seems a lot of people are not so aware that that impact of 33+°C temperature.. on a human body is quite stressing..
Reminds me of a friend who went to play soccer at 35°c when we where at Marmaris at holiday.. we 'v took the idiot to a hospital shortly after...
Reminds me of a friend who went to play soccer at 35°c when we where at Marmaris at holiday.. we 'v took the idiot to a hospital shortly after...
hey69 said:
Well, it depends on how fit you are and if you are smart enough to know what to do to keep in good shape as you're playing: back in the days I played quite a few tennis matches right in the early afternoons of some blistering hot summer days, and never had a trouble. Keep drinking to rehydratate your body, keep a hat on your head, light-coloured t-shirt or such (I remember it was never a good idea to play almost naked)...of course being fit is a good thing to start off with.
hey69 said:
Wait!
You guys are dropping like flies over that temperature?
It was 40.5° C here yesterday. We are gearing up for the Hotter N Hell Hundred, which is a 3 day event with a 100 mile (161km) bicycle race (90 miles on-road, 10 miles offroad). 43+°C temperatures are not unusual for this race.
http://www.hh100.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=52
Bah, you people are pussies. I was recently on vacation in Death Valley California, where temperatures were above 50C, and I have my 14 month old son with me.
This is the kind of heat that when you step out of your car, you *literally* feel like someone put a hair dryer on your eye socket. I kid you not, Death Valley is very windy, and I felt like somehow had a hot hair dryer blowing into my eyes.
And yes, Death Valley is about hiking. Of course, I didn't do much of it with my son. I kept him outside for no more than 10 minutes at a time.
This is the kind of heat that when you step out of your car, you *literally* feel like someone put a hair dryer on your eye socket. I kid you not, Death Valley is very windy, and I felt like somehow had a hot hair dryer blowing into my eyes.
And yes, Death Valley is about hiking. Of course, I didn't do much of it with my son. I kept him outside for no more than 10 minutes at a time.
Thanks for including this, you had me scared talking about a 14 mos old in that kind of heat!DemoCoder said:
It's all about what shape you are in, what temperatures you're used to, and how you treat your body on the way (most importantly, knowing how much to drink). The two latest are of course closely related.
This is a four day walk, which means that it also attracts people that aren't athlets, but want to do something that push their limits. If you look at the gallery at http://www.4daagse.nl , you'll se quite a few older people. And yes for those, combined with a temperature that they aren't used to handle, it's not strange that it will be too much for some. Two deaths are of course sad, but I don't think it's strange with 300 persons needing medical attention (out of 45 000). I'd almost expect that many needing medical attention without the heat.
Powderkeg:
While those temperatures definitely are outside my "comfort range" (-20ºC to +30ºC), it's a rather short bicycle race. The Nijmegen walk is longer than that.
This is a four day walk, which means that it also attracts people that aren't athlets, but want to do something that push their limits. If you look at the gallery at http://www.4daagse.nl , you'll se quite a few older people. And yes for those, combined with a temperature that they aren't used to handle, it's not strange that it will be too much for some. Two deaths are of course sad, but I don't think it's strange with 300 persons needing medical attention (out of 45 000). I'd almost expect that many needing medical attention without the heat.
Powderkeg:
While those temperatures definitely are outside my "comfort range" (-20ºC to +30ºC), it's a rather short bicycle race. The Nijmegen walk is longer than that.
Yech ugh, oh god. I start to become uncomfortable when temps rise a little above 30 if I have to stand around in the sun and just do nothing.Bobbler said:
45C isn't fit for humans to live in, hehe. 4 days of walking. I did an 8 hour hike in yoho national park along the Iceline trail (mountains, glaciers), and I felt pretty crappy at the end. And that was with about an hour's worth of stopping in the middle to enjoy the view etc. Granted, I only drank about 1 litre of water and ate a light nutella sandwich; I was only drinking enough to satiate my dry mouth, even picked up a snowball just to wet my tongue. My back was in pain from the 3L of water in my backpack. Going up was fine, but downhill just killed my feet. It was worth the climb/hike though. 4 days... I'd try it if I could.
Basic said:
I would say that's more of an issue of acclimation than anything else. We have old people here too, many being very active. Total population of the area is a bit over 3 million, yet we don't have 300 people needing medical attention for the entire summer, much less on one day.
The race is just one part of the total event. As I said, it's a 3 day event, including a 100 mile bike race. The bike race is done in a single day.
And the Nijmegen Walk is only 24 miles more total distance spread out over 4 days instead of just 1. 50km per day for the longest walkers. That's about 10 hours worth of walking at average walking speed. Not exactly difficult for even the mildly fit.
Alstrong said:
Altitude, rugged terrain, and the fact you weren't walking on paved roads had a lot to do with that. So does acclimation.
I've gone on many 3-5 day hiking trips. Done a ton of rock climbing, some spelunking, and scuba diving. I consider myself pretty fit for my age (37).
And yet I've been left nearly unable to walk for 2 days because my legs were so overworked after only 2 hours riding on a jetski on the ocean in 5 foot waves. I've got strong legs and great endurance, but my body is not acclimated to that specific kind of workout.
Powderkeg said:
Yes as I said, I agree that it's mostly about not being acclimated. But you can't compare this to what your population does an average summer day, even if that means to go hiking.
In all these kind of events there will be lots of people who normally aren't this active, and take the event as a challenge that is much tougher than what they normally do. There's most likely lots of those peple on "Hotter N Hell Hundred" too. But with "easier" events, you'll probably get more people that aren't fit (compared to the level needed for the event). People who have less margin until they "run into the wall". It's much more likely that you can talk your unfit friend into walking 50 km than bicyling 160 km, even though you'll spend less energy on the biking (given that you let it take the same time).
Oh, and I doubt that the medical care was any trips to ER or anything like that in most cases. The most common was probably that they told people to sit down, drink water or some energy drink, and not leave until a doc has decided if they look fit to continue, or if they should stop.
Powderkeg said:
Sorry, I misunderstood it to be 100 miles over three days. So it's a more normal race even though I'd still not call it long. (I tend to compare all happy-amateaur-races with our Swedish classic "Vätternrundan", which is 300 km. :smile: ) If it weren't for the temp difference there, I'd much rather do the 160 km on bike than even one 50 km walk.
It's typically 20C year around in Northerna California and no humidity, no seasons, so most regions of the world feel like a swamp, oven, or a refrigerator to me. When I went to Thailand recently, I felt like I was in a sauna the whole time, my clothes were literally soaked just from walking around, not from sweat, but from humidity.
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