21 athletes die during China ultra-marathon

Twenty-one people running a mountain ultra-marathon have died in north-west China after hail, freezing rain and gales hit the highaltitude track. After an allnight operation involving more than 700, rescuers confirmed that 151 of the 172 participants were safe.

Twenty-one people running a mountain ultra-marathon have died in north-west China after hail, freezing rain and gales hit the high-altitude track.

After an all-night operation involving more than 700 staff, rescuers confirmed that 151 of the 172 participants were safe.

Twenty-one had died, according to an official agency, which said the runners suffered from physical discomfort and the sudden drop in temperature.

They were racing on a narrow mountain path at an altitude reaching 2,000-3,000 metresduringthe62-milerace at the Yellow River Stone Forest in Baiyin.

One of those who died was a well-known runner, Liang Jing, who had won a 100km race in Ningbo, reported a state-backed newspaper.

The race followed a relatively established course, having been held four times, according to an account posted online by a participant in the race who quit and made his way to safety.

But the weather had caught them off guard on the morning of the race on Saturday.

The runners were not dressed for winter-like conditions.

"I ran two kilometres before the starting gun fired to warm up ... but the troublesome thing was, after running these two kilometres, my body still had not heated up," the competitor said.

The most difficult section, from mile 15 to mile 22, climbed 1,000 metres.

There, he said, the path was just a mix of stones and sand, and his fingers grew numb from the cold.

When he finally decided to turn back, he already felt dazed.

He said he was able to make it to safety and met rescue crew.

Those further along the path, who needed rescue, had fallen off into mountain crevices, according to a reporter for a state broadcaster.

Video footage showed rescuers in winter jackets in the dark night searching with torches along steep hills and narrow paths.

Baiyin mayor Zhang Xuchen profoundly apologised yesterday as the race organiser.

• Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties, has died in the southern city of Changsha aged 90,

Yuan spent his life researching rice and was a household name in China.

Worldwide, a fifth of all rice now comes from species created by hybrid rice following Yuan's breakthrough discoveries in the 1970s, according to the website of the World Food Prize, which he won in 2004. On Saturday, large crowds honoured him by marching past the hospital in Hunan where he died, local media reported, calling out phrases such as: "Grandpa Yuan, have a good journey."

He developed a hybrid strain of rice with an annual yield 20 per cent higher than existing varieties.

His work helped transform China from "food deficiency to food security" within three decades, according to the World Food Prize, which was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognise those who have improved the quality and availability of food.