Everything to Live For: The Inspirational Story of Turia Pitt

by Pitt, Turia

  The next stretch went through the Tier Gorge, the most inaccessible and difficult part of the 20 kilometres to checkpoint three. I set off on my own. On the way I passed two other competitors, a younger guy and an older man, sitting under a tree having something to eat. I couldn’t see the smoke from there and I had my iPod on and couldn’t hear anything either. When I took my earphones out to say hello as I ran past them, I heard a noise and thought it must be trucks from the distant Great Northern Highway. I look back on that moment now and shiver at my unwitting mistake.

  A bit further on where the route funnelled into the narrow section of the Tier Gorge with high rock cliffs either side, I had to stop running; I was walking and clambering over rocks and was climbing for a while before descending into a wide, flat, scrubby bush- and grass-covered valley with a rocky steep escarpment on my right.

  I was running again, still with my iPod on, when suddenly I saw smoke from a fire in the distance; to me it looked like a low brush fire coming across the floor of the valley towards the escarpment on my right. At that moment it didn’t look all that big but as I looked about anxiously I saw a girl and a guy who were obviously discussing the fire and as I stopped, another two competitors ran up; I recognised them as the guys I’d seen having lunch. Another guy joined us, and as we congregated together, we looked around for a way out.

  Suddenly, the fire was metres away and we realised we were in terrible danger. We were trapped; the wind was rapidly funnelling the fire towards us and into the gorge; the only way out was the steep rocky cliff covered in long grass on our right. I knew fire travelled uphill very fast but we had no choice – there was no other way, we had to go up.

  FOUR

  THE RACE

  FIVE OTHERS FACED THE SAME TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT AS TURIA in those seemingly short minutes before the fire overcame them all.

  Michael Hull, from the Central Coast of New South Wales, was a veteran of extreme racing and had participated in five of RacingthePlanet’s previous events over a number of years: the Gobi March, the Atacama Crossing in Chile, Antarctica – the Last Desert, the Sahara Race in Egypt and the staged seven-day 250-kilometre run in the Kimberley the previous year.

  Forty-four-year-old Michael, a sales executive with a telecommunications company, was in the United Kingdom to compete in a 100-mile (160 km) race organised by Centurion Running when he was invited to participate in the Kimberley event. Michael was staying with his brother, who lives in London, when he received an email from RacingthePlanet’s race director offering to waive the entry fee if he agreed to be part of a documentary being filmed to promote tourism in Western Australia. He said it was put to him as a way of ‘helping them out’.

  Immediately after the UK race, Michael was planning to fly to the United States to be his friend’s support person in another ultramarathon; he emailed RacingthePlanet back telling them that if he didn’t sustain any injuries and felt up to it, he’d be a starter. A week after his return to Australia he was on a flight to Kununurra. He expected to do the race in good time and promised his wife and daughters he’d be on the plane out the day after to be home in time for Father’s Day.

  The previous year the ultramarathon race had been over the same route but run in reverse; Michael knew that in the first part of the Tier Gorge was a stretch of approximately 2 kilometres that was narrow and rugged, the only part of the course where there was no vehicle access – no tracks or trails. He planned to do an easy run to checkpoint two and walk to checkpoint three, by which time he would have warmed up and could start serious running.

  As part of the agreement to participate in the documentary, Michael was asked to wear a special camera strapped to his chest, which he was told he could take off if he found it uncomfortable or the batteries ran flat. He decided to take it off at checkpoint two because he found it annoying; a decision, in retrospect, he regrets. At checkpoint two, while filling up his water bottle, he saw Turia and the four others with whom he would later confront the fire. He left just ahead of the others.

  About fifteen minutes later, the father and son team of Shaun and Martin Van der Merwe passed Michael. Thirty-two-year-old Shaun had immigrated to Australia from South Africa in 2005. He was living in Perth with his wife and one child and working in a corporate role for a mining company.

  His fifty-six-year-old father, Martin, lived in Ghana, where he worked as human resources manager for another mining company. Both Martin and Shaun had taken part in ultramarathons before. Shaun’s had mostly been on-road in South Africa, and the Kimberley ultra was his first off-road race. Martin was well seasoned at multi-sport competitions, mostly in South Africa. He had competed in Iron Man events and ultramarathons in both running and canoeing, the Cape Epic Ultra – an off-road cycle event over nine days – as well as the Ultra Man, an ultra-distance event involving running, cycling, swimming and canoeing over one year.

  Shaun and Martin had a ‘bucket list’ of things they would like to do together, which gave them an opportunity to catch up every year. They took turns at selecting an activity such as a marathon, fly fishing, canoeing or mountain-bike riding; this year it was Shaun’s choice. He’d seen a documentary on RacingthePlanet and was attracted to the ultra in the Kimberley. He’d always wanted to go to the Kimberley and thought this might be a great way to do it; he and Martin agreed that they’d squeeze it in before going over to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup the following week.

  Competitors in the event had a choice of doing 100 kilometres or 50 kilometres. Martin didn’t feel he’d had enough training to do the 100 kilometres and Shaun didn’t care either way, so they registered for 100 kilometres with the option of finishing after 50 kilometres. Martin flew to Perth to meet Shaun and they flew to Kununurra together.

  About halfway between checkpoint two and checkpoint three, Martin and Shaun decided to take a break and have something to eat in the shade of a tree. While resting, Michael came past, stopping briefly to say hello. Shortly afterwards, Turia also passed them and called out hello.

  After passing the Van der Merwes, Michael had gone about 500 metres more when he heard a roaring noise and surmised it must be a road train on the Great Northern Highway, which he knew was in the vicinity but still some distance away. He didn’t see the smoke from the fire because he was consciously looking down so as not to roll an ankle on the rocky surface and he was also keeping an eye out for the pink bunting attached to trees and rocks to mark the course. He didn’t think much more about the noise until he went up a slight rise – and there was the fire, steadily devouring the route to checkpoint three.

  Meanwhile, back at the top of the gorge, the Van der Merwes, who had resumed running, were passed by two other competitors: Hal Benson and Kate Sanderson. Hal, a thirty-six-year-old financial analyst from Sydney, and Kate, also thirty-six, a private investigator from Melbourne, had been friends for some years; both had competed in other ultramarathons but this was the first one they’d entered together. They’d met some years earlier when they were both volunteers for an adventure race in Thredbo. Although Hal had done ultramarathon runs before, he preferred adventure racing – ultratriathlons that involve a mix of sports, such as mountain biking, trekking and paddling, and which can last anywhere from six hours to ten days.

  It was Kate’s idea to enter the Kimberley ultra; she emailed Hal saying it was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’. Hal didn’t take much convincing and a few days before the event he flew to Perth to meet her and her friend Andrew Baker, who wasn’t participating but planned to join Hal and Kate for a few days touring the region after the race. At the last minute, Andrew joined as a volunteer.

  The pair began the race together but while Hal took it easy at the start, Kate took off ahead of him. He wasn’t expecting to see her again but caught up with her at checkpoint two; she appeared to be struggling with the heat. Hal, who’d been in the Army for three years and was accustomed to serious fitness training, did not feel affected by the heat.

  Hal and Kat
e left checkpoint two together and were a little concerned to see patches of smouldering grass from spot fires along the route. There was smoke on the horizon. They jogged on until they had to slow to navigate the narrowest part of the gorge. When Hal and Kate emerged from this part of the course they came down to the floor of the gorge – a valley about 800 metres wide – and could see the string of pink markers stretching into the distance, slightly above the waist-high grass and intermittent bush. Ahead of them and about 300 metres to the right of the course markings was another smouldering fire. They discussed the possibility that they might be heading into a trap because it looked bigger than the other spot fires. They could also hear a worrying roaring noise in the distance.

  They kept going but the fire front appeared to be getting bigger and the distant noise had intensified. At this point, Kate saw Turia some distance away and she appeared to be running towards the fire, and thought anxiously that she was going straight into it. But Kate could see Turia had her earphones in and her head down and knew it would be no use calling out to her, plus the noise of the fire would deafen any attempt she made.

  Hal and Kate stopped. The fire had started sweeping up and across from the left side of the gorge, gathering momentum, and would soon be coming their way. They had two options – backtrack and try to outrun the fire or go up the steep slope on the right side of the gorge; they knew both options were a no-no in terms of what to do if confronted by a fire; on the one hand, no one could outrun the speed of a fire and on the other, they knew fire travelled even faster uphill. They had to choose one.

  The Van der Merwes had also come across some burnt-out spot-fire patches after leaving checkpoint two but it hadn’t worried them as the scorched areas were quite small. Back on course after their break, they heard a distant roar; Martin thought it may have been a fire they’d seen en route to the start of the race, coming back the other way. Nothing could have prepared Shaun and Martin for the sight that confronted them as they emerged from the narrow gorge and looked down across the wide valley: thick smoke and, in the distance heading their way, a band of flame stretching as far as the eye could see.

  Almost at the same time they came across Turia, Hal and Kate and within minutes were joined by Michael, who had run back after seeing the fire blocking his way. Now there were six.

  By this stage the noise was deafening. From where they were standing they didn’t have the best vantage point to see exactly what direction the fire was moving but judged it was coming towards them by the way the wind was blowing the smoke. They quickly canvassed their options.

  Turia said she was scared.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Martin said, trying to reassure her. ‘We’ll be alright if we stick together.’

  They thought they might backtrack and find refuge somewhere in the gorge but after about 10 metres, they turned around and realised this was not going to work as already the fire was noticeably bigger and closer. Martin was thinking about the Venturi effect – what would happen once the fire reached the narrow entrance of the gorge. Essentially, the funnelling and condensing of the flames into the gorge would create suction, and the hot air pulled in would accelerate the fire rapidly through the gorge; it would be like being trapped in a blast furnace. So they all quickly made their way back to their original meeting point, traversing a small dry river bed with no undergrowth but dismissing it as a place of refuge as it was not wide enough to shelter them from the flames.

  In the meantime the fire continued to advance across the valley. Vegetation in the valley included gum trees, acacias, grevillea and spinifex grass. The grass is renowned for being enormously combustible, burning hot and fast; this fire was fuelled by a seasonally high growth of dry grass. And September is the hottest season in the north.

  They had run out of options.

  All they could do was head for the steep wall of the gorge to their right; they could see a rocky outcrop halfway up; it had less vegetation. If they huddled there, with less fuel for the fire, hopefully the flames would go around them.

  ‘I’m going,’ Kate shouted above the rumble of the fire and started off up the hill and everyone followed.

  They all started running as the huge band of fire came towards them, forcing them up the cliff. Martin, Kate and Turia stopped halfway up on the narrow rock ledge, which wasn’t as large as it had looked from below. They were joined by Michael and Hal; Shaun had to stand just off the ledge as there wasn’t enough room for him. They looked at the fire now licking at the bottom of the slope where they had just been standing.

  Turia looked at Kate and started crying. Kate said, ‘I’m scared too but it will be alright.’

  There was hurried talk about putting on the pre-requisite long-sleeved tops in their backpacks. Kate grabbed her merino jersey and by the time she had pulled it on, she saw to her horror the fire was surging towards them. A hasty discussion followed about whether the ledge would protect them, whether perhaps – if they all huddled together – they could use their backpacks as a barrier. But as the fire raced up the hill towards the ledge each had to make a split-second choice.

  Turia crouched in a depression among the rocks, pulling her long-sleeved top over her legs in a last-ditch bid at some protection. The heat was intense; the air was thick with smoke and the flying debris of burning embers.

  Kate hunched in a small crevice in the rocks, poured the contents of her water bottle over her and waited for the fire to pass – except it didn’t pass.

  Shaun looked at his father and said, ‘I don’t have a good feeling about this, let’s go.’

  Martin’s first thought was to stay put and he hesitated.

  ‘Okay, Dad, I’m going.’ Shaun took off. Almost instantly Martin turned to run after him but by then he could hardly see his son through the billowing smoke.

  Hal was already heading uphill; as he turned around to tell Kate to keep going, he heard the roar of the fire as it leapt over the ledge so, knowing he didn’t have the strength to go any further up the slope, he veered to the right and ran parallel along the cliff.

  The radiant heat was burning and blistering Kate’s skin and the fire hadn’t even reached her yet. Kate felt it was like putting her hand on the flame of a gas fire but not being able to pull it away. Her shoulder was on fire and instinctively she stood up to pat it out; at that moment the flames engulfed her. She screamed in a moment of pure terror. This is what it is like to die in a fire, she thought. Kate began to run, and fell over on the rocky terrain; seconds later she heard Turia scream and knew from the pitch of her scream that she had been caught in the fire too.

  As the fire enveloped her, Turia was having the same thoughts as Kate: Is this how I die?

  Hal heard the panicked screams and thought, That’s the sound of someone burning to death. One of the girls is gone.

  Shaun turned around when he heard Kate screaming. He peered through the flames and could see nothing but the combusting spinifex and Turia trying to follow him.

  The intensity of the heat had become impossible for Turia to bear and she’d stood up and tried scrambling up the hill after Shaun. She fell, hitting her head on a rock. He heard her screaming with panic and pain and turned around again to see her disappearing into the fire.

  Michael, who had seen Turia fall, knew he was next. I’m not ready to die, he thought and made the decision to run back through the line of fire towards the already burnt area, tripping and gashing his leg on a sharp rock as he went.

  Meanwhile Martin – scrambling up the steep gradient after Shaun – slipped on a rock and sprained his ankle. Partially shielding himself behind a tree, he tried to get his ankle to function; he didn’t dare call out to Shaun – he wanted him to keep running and save himself. As the fire raced towards him, Martin heard the heart-rending, agonising screams of the burning girls below. When the fire was almost upon him he pulled his nylon compression socks down to prevent the nylon melting into the skin of his lower legs and, like Michael, ran back headlong through the flames, h
olding his hands over his eyes.

  In the depth of the fire, one of Martin’s running shoes melted off his foot, causing him to trip and fall again, spraining his other ankle, hitting his head on a rock, splitting his ear open and burning his right hand severely on a burning branch.

  Shaun ran for his life. He too tripped, heard a loud crack and thought he had broken his leg but he kept running and jumped off a 4-metre-high ledge, tumbling down the cliffside. He then sat back under the ledge. When he looked up he saw the flames reaching over the ledge but it was too high up for them to set fire to the grass below him.

  As Shaun sat exhausted, shaking, heart pounding, he checked the GPS watch he always wore on his wrist when running and saw his heart rate had reached 216 beats per minute and he had run 100 metres in 15 seconds. He registered that his leg was sore but not broken. It was 1.20 pm.

  Looking down he saw a steep cliff across an open valley with some green tree areas and realised he was in was another part of the Tier Range.

  Sitting there, he felt lost and alone. He honestly believed no one could have survived the intensity of the fire; while he had a strong impulse to check if his father had survived he was scared – if he went back to the small rocky ledge, he was positive he’d find five charred bodies. He’d invited his father to go in this marathon and was wondering how he was going to tell his mother he’d been responsible for his father’s death.

  Eventually he decided to make his way cautiously down into the valley, where he might be more easily seen by rescuers. The fire had started ramping up through the valley in the distance; he descended slowly and found a clump of trees where he sat down and wrapped his running vest around his face to avoid being asphyxiated by the thick smoke.