Seven participants and one official in the Southern Lakes Ultra Marathon had to be rescued from Macetown, near Arrowtown, and flown to Queenstown Lakes Hospital with mild hypothermia on Wednesday.
Organising committee member Glenn Marvin said of the 117 people on the course, seven athletes were evacuated, three of those after mountain crew assessed them at checkpoints.
Two rejoined the event yesterday.
He said the safety plan - audited and accepted by the Department of Conservation before permits were issued - had worked.
"There are always going to be learnings," Mr Marvin said.
"Some of the confusion with SAR [search and rescue] was that while there was only those individuals needing assistance, when the mountain team came through, or when another athlete ... came across them, they also triggered their PLBs to ensure [help came].
"It seems like there were quite a few comments from friends and family and relatives, but in the moment, we need to focus on the safety of the athletes and managing everything that was going on in the hills.
"If we could have done anything better, it probably would have been communicating to the outside world to keep everyone else reassured. When there’s a void, that gets filled with people’s thoughts, ideas and concerns."
Mr Marvin said there would be a full review after the event concluded tomorrow, as there had been after last year’s ultra, during which there were no issues.
One of the athletes airlifted from Macetown on Wednesday after becoming hypothermic during the event will rejoin the event today for its penultimate fifth stage.
Jan Robinson, of Christchurch, told the Otago Daily Times health and safety was the race organisers’ top priority with "mandatory gear" checked at registration last Friday.
That equipment includes a survival bag, a sleeping bag with a minimum temperature rating of 0degC, a long-sleeved down jacket, long-sleeved thermal top, long pants, a seam-sealed rain jacket, whistle, signal mirror, head torches, a red flashing light, first aid kit and personal locator beacon.
The website also warned entrants not to take the terrain covered during the six-stage event lightly, pointing out some stages were remote, athletes would be climbing and descending for hours, "potentially some in the dark".
"Queenstown is in an alpine environment, surrounded by some spectacular scenery and crossing a number of remote locations with exposure to the elements," the advice states.
"You don’t enter the Southern Lakes Ultra if you just want to do a Ponsonby path jog," Robinson said.
Athletes were given full briefings each night and, on Monday evening, were told rain was forecast for Tuesday’s 67km stage, from Glendhu Bay to Macetown, she said.
