"A severely injured person was lying there." About 10 people were injured during a cycling marathon in Polesia

Recently, the popular cycling marathon "Salt of Polesia," which starts and finishes in Salihorsk, took place in southern Belarus. Participants — there were several thousand of them — competed in distances of 40, 75, and 130 kilometers. The cycling marathon provided dozens of beautiful shots published on social media, but it wasn't without falls and injuries, writes Onliner.by.

The cycling marathon route passed along roads, off-road sections, and industrial areas of Salihorsk and Liuban districts. Including near the famous spoil heaps. As a result, Viktor Kustinsky and Anastasia Navitskaya became champions in the main 130-kilometer distance. The man completed the route in 4:20:35, and the woman finished with a time of 5:07:03.

Unfortunately, there were incidents. Reports of injured people appeared on Threads. This information was confirmed by one of the readers.

Павялічыць

Journalists contacted the competition organizers for a comment.

— More than three thousand people participated in the marathon itself, and eight were injured. Injuries were sustained at different distances and not in one place. People were immediately taken to the Salihorsk hospital, and six were discharged after examination. Two others remained until at least Sunday. Immediately after the awards ceremony, representatives of "Belaruskali" visited them. We are in touch with them, so the situation is under control.

How exactly were people injured? It's a cycling marathon. Some lost control of their bikes, fell on bumps and turns, sustaining scrapes and bruises. The most severe injury was a concussion, sustained during a fall, — Onlíner was told by the Federation of Adventure Races.

Onliner spoke with one of the race participants. The man recounted that on one of the descents, he saw a cyclist who was unwell. One of the girls called an ambulance for him.

— In addition, right at the finish line, a person did a somersault over the front wheel, and an ambulance took him away, — added the interlocutor.

A girl who competed in the 130 km distance shared her opinion about the race.

— About a kilometer before one of the sections, a crowd of people was visible — about 400-500. I decided it was a water station, but when I got closer, the real horror began. It was a place where roads from different distances merged. A terrible situation: the guys had been riding for 130 kilometers, focused on the result. They had cosmic speed, while I was doing 30-35 km/h. We didn't understand how or where to move.

And at a turn sharper than 90 degrees, where we crossed paths with participants from other distances, one guy laid his bike right in the middle of the gravel road. I suppose he did it to take a photo.

In this section, people largely did not react to shouts like "I'm on the left," "in the center." There was also zero reaction to the bell.

Many people were injured precisely because fast and slow participants ended up together. This escalated into a conflict in the chat, but the organizers never acknowledged the problem or apologized. Plus, at the exit from the second spoil heap (3RU), at the very end of the descent, a severely injured person was lying there. It looked so bad that the desire to push on disappeared. I rode to the finish line, but with a lower average speed. The injuries I saw led to a psychological block and a fear of continuing to ride fast in a crowd of inexperienced and unconscious people.

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