Boulder kills contestant
A falling rock killed an Australian adventure racer who was competing in the Subaru Primal Quest contest in Washington state last week.
Nigel Aylott, 38, died when a competitor dislodged a boulder on Illabot Peak, 100 miles northwest of Seattle.
Others ducked the tumbling boulder, but Aylott was below a ridge and may not have seen it, said Rebecca Rush, captain of Team Montrail, who was traveling with Aylott’s team, which was then leading the race.
He is the first fatality in the U.S. in the fast-growing sport, which attracts experienced outdoors athletes and TV audiences, says Gordon Wright, a spokesman for Primal Quest.
The Subaru Primal Quest is a 400-mile round-the-clock hiking, mountain biking, orienteering, kayaking and inline skate expedition. Teams competed for a $250,000 purse, the most ever for the 3-year-old event.
Primal Quest executive Dan Barger suspended the race and then resumed it Thursday on an abbreviated route. Two other people have died in adventure races around the world.
-- Roy Wallack
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