Kiwi desert racer Lisa Tamati facing Sahara ban

DESERT DRAMA: Lisa Tamati.

Relevant offers

Other sports

Gareth Kean produces London qualifying time Korea beat Black Sticks men in series decider Usshers make the Coast to Coast a family affair Happy champs use Porritt meet for buildup Taranaki surf well above their weight - again Snyders in winning form at NSW swim champs SBW sidekick Messam also has boxing bug Cameron-Barrett to headline heavyweight night Pure Black back on track with vision for Tour Furious fans storm ring at end of IBF bout

Leading ultra-endurance athlete Lisa Tamati is facing a ban from the international 4 Deserts series for criticising organisers of the Gobi March.

An American competitor, Nicholas Kruse, died from complications due to the heatstroke he suffered in the 250km race through China's Gobi Desert earlier this month.

Both in her blog and in comments made to the Taranaki Daily News, Tamati was critical of organisers' rescue effort of the man who died in hospital three days later.

She said organisers spurned an offer from five runners to help Mr Kruse who had collapsed just 1.5km from the finish line and instead wasted valuable time sending a doctor and camels to evacuate him.

Those comments prompted an angry response from race organiser Mary Gadams, of Racing the Planet, who first wanted the Taranaki Daily News to remove parts of Tamati's racing blog on its website and then said a following story written on Tamati's return to New Plymouth had a number of statements that were not true.

In an email sent to the Taranaki Daily News Ms Gadams said Tamati would not be competing in the forthcoming Sahara desert as she had intended.

Tamati, who was the second woman home in the Gobi race, has twice completed the Badwater Ultramarathon through America's Death Valley and last year ran the length of the New Zealand for charity, yesterday distanced herself from her earlier comments.

"There had been a lot of upset runners that someone had died. We were very scared by all of it. It was a wake-up call for everyone of how dangerous these events could be and we were all frustrated we could not do anything for Nicholas," she said in New Plymouth yesterday.

She said she was highly emotional and tired when approached by the Taranaki Daily News at the New Plymouth airport last Friday and had erred in making comments about the competitor's death.

"It wasn't really my place to talk about what happened to him in public because that is something that should be left to the family," she said.

Of the more than 160 entrants who entered only 124 finished the race.

The Taranaki Daily News understands Tamati is not the only competitor to come under pressure to swallow their criticism about the event which is part of a series that includes the Atacama Desert of Chile, the Sahara Desert and Antarctica.

Attempts to contact organiser Ms Gadams this week were unsuccessful.

In the story published on Saturday, July 10 we reported a number of competitors suffered broken legs during the race but organisers have since said no competitor suffered any broken bones. We apologise for the error.

- © Fairfax NZ News