Runner gets lost in the woods
Woman flown out by helicopter after nine-hour ordeal
A Vancouver woman who holds the world record for the fastest marathon while pushing a stroller began to regret a Vancouver Island run when, in addition to being lost, her cellphone’s battery power went from 80 per cent to zero.
Allison Tai, who would be rescued by helicopter hours later, planned to run 40 kilometres from Port Alberni to Qualicum Beach. But the single logging road identified on Google Maps turned out to be a maze of dead-end paths that led her astray.
“That was really when I went, ‘Oh no, I’m out in the middle of the woods, I have no idea where I’m going and I have a dead cellphone,’ ” Tai said.
Tai set out Friday at about 3 p.m. Aside from route planning, she did everything right, according to a search and rescue technician who picked her up. She shared her path with her husband in advance, took photos along the way to track it, and took with her a fully charged cellphone (equipped with GPS), an energy bar and a flashlight.
When her phone suddenly died and she couldn’t access her planned GPS route, she followed ATV tracks. After about an hour, the tracks stopped abruptly.
“At that point, I realized I was way off route,” she said.
Her phone, thankfully, came back to life when she warmed it more than an hour later and at 6:30 p.m., she received a call from Oceanside RCMP. She was about two hours late to meet her husband at the 17-kilometre mark.
Tai accepted the offer of help reluctantly.
“I just felt absolutely horrible,” she said.
It would be almost six more hours before a helicopter arrived on scene. Tai ran laps to stay warm, setting off an alarm on her flashlight to scare off cougars.
She began hallucinating, catching glimpses of a raven bobbing its head, a man in a black hoodie, a hay bale, an old truck, headlights.
“There’s a weird fear that comes, it’s sort of reverse claustrophobia, just knowing that there’s nobody anywhere around,” she said.
“It’s dark and your mind starts playing tricks on you. ... You hear about it a lot with ultra-marathoners but I’d never experienced it like this.”
She expected an Arrowsmith ground search and rescue ATV to rescue her, so she was surprised when a CH-149 helicopter arrived at 12:10 a.m.
The crew, called via the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, located Tai using night-vision goggles. Master warrant officer Gavin Lee of the 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron based in Comox, said Tai made it easier by signalling with her flashlight when she heard the Cormorant.
“This young woman knew exactly what to do to signal to us her location. She stayed in an open area and effectively used her headlamp as a signalling device,” Lee said.
Tai said she began to sob when the helicopter flew directly toward her. She was so exhausted she could no longer raise her arm.
A rescuer hoisted down about 46 metres to retrieve her and they flew to Qualicum airport. Tai said she can’t express the depth of her gratitude for her rescuers.
“They were such kindhearted, amazing, selfless people,” she said.
“And they came out here because I made this stupid mistake. That’s handsdown the hardest part, knowing it affected them and their families.”
Other than feeling the effects of the cold, she was in good health and did not require medical attention.