Runner Killed by Driver at Ragnar Northwest Passage
A Canadian athlete has died after being struck by a driver during the Ragnar Northwest Passage event on Whidbey Island, Washington.
55-year-old Hui Li of Surrey, British Columbia was running an overnight leg during the race on Saturday, July 12th when Li was struck from behind by a pick-up truck, driven by Rosita Naves of Everett, Wash. Li was airlifted to a local hospital, but later died from injuries sustained in the incident.
According to documents from the Washington State Patrol, Li was running southbound on State Route 20 in Oak Harbor, Washington at approximately 3:30 AM.
Li was hit from behind by Naves, who was driving a Dodge Ram 1500. The incident took place in the southbound travel lane, and Washington State Patrol cited the cause of the incident as a “pedestrian violation.” Drugs, alcohol, and speed were not considered to be factors in the collision.
The speed limit on this section of road is 40 MPH. Reviewing the approximate scene on the crash via Google Maps, the shoulder width of this stretch of road is somewhat minimal.
Ragnar, in its rules for the event, requires runners to “use sidewalks or trails, when available” and to obey the rules of the road. Runners at night, defined as between the hours of 8 PM and 6 AM, are also required to wear a reflective vest and headlamps. However, the marked course for this stretch of road had runners running with traffic, instead of against it, with cones marking the course.
An athlete who ran this year’s event said on social media, “I ran this leg of the race around 2AM and it was scary – another runner and I didn’t understand why Ragnar had us running with traffic instead of against it (like they state it (sp) in the safety video).”
The Ragnar Northwest Passage is a 193.5 mile road relay event, taking athletes from the Canadian border in Blaine, Washington and ending in Langley. The race sees athletes run through Bellingham, Burlington, and Deception Pass along the route. Teams have either six or twelve runners to split the mileage up. The Northwest Passage race is one of seven road events Ragnar has, to go along with 16 trail races.
The collision took place around the transition from legs 23 to 24 of the race, out of a total 36 legs.
Ragnar released the following statement this afternoon on social media.
The Ragnar Events team is heartbroken to learn that one of our participants tragically passed away following an incident during the run portion of the Ragnar Road Northwest Passage event. We have been in touch with the family and extend our deepest condolences to them, their teammates, and friends. The weight of this tragedy is deeply felt throughout our organization and the wider running community. We are working with local authorities as they continue their ongoing investigation. We will not be providing further details at this time.
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I’ve driven that road several times and make no mistake - it is a highway. There’s no way I would walk it if I could help it, even during the daytime.
The Deception Pass bridge is a popular photo spot but beyond that, cars are generally moving fast.
Edit: also the speed limit there is most certainly 55 or 50 (for a couple speed-trap sections).
I’m not blaming the victim but I am surprised a race would ever allow this road to be used.
Horrific that police blamed the victim. The motorist can be cited for reckless driving /2 2nd degree manslaughter as this was a cone zone
What is not clear from reports is whether the runner was outside of said coned area. There’s some social media scuttlebutt debating that.
Regardless, the last time I ran a Ragnar event, I felt like traffic control was pretty lackluster – a far cry from the first couple I did. I thought at the time it was a local organizing thing as opposed to a Ragnar specific thing.
No sidewalk or path, you must run against traffic, at least that is CA state law. If so, the race series will face civil lawsuit . I always run against traffic, too mamy people busy using their phones. At least zi can see them coming to jump out of the way
Years ago, maybe like 2010, RAGNAR AZ was a road relay, it’s now a trail run, and a teenager who was part of a support crew was killed on Carefree Highway in the middle of the night trying to cross the road to provide aid to their runner. He ran out between two parked cars and didn’t look both ways. There was zero traffic control efforts back then beyond some basic rules for the support cars.
You have all of the facts? Horrific that it happened for sure. The only thing we do know is that Ragnar routed a race course down the shoulder of a highway, with the direction of traffic, at night, and someone got killed.