Seven participants and one official of the Southern Lakes Ultra Marathon had to be rescued from Macetown, near Arrowtown, and flown to Queenstown Lakes Hospital with mild hypothermia after heavy overnight rain caused the Arrow River to rise.
Members of the Shotover 4WD Club were so "horrified" by health and safety concerns at last year's event they declined a request from race organisers to act as support vehicles again this year.
A club member, who wished not to be named, told the Otago Daily Times members ended up doing medical rescues "all night long".
"It was a complete s... show and our guys felt they were in a bit of danger as well as the competitors. There was no health and safety," he said
Club president Jake Gregory said the task involved more than the club agreed to.
"[Organisers] didn’t have any communication with the checkpoint people so the guys were saying there’s something not right there, and they didn’t really know what was going on so ... it was a bit of a shambles really," he said.
Mr Gregory said concerns were raised verbally and by email with organisers but he did not think he received a response.
Rescuers yesterday first responded after a personal locator beacon was activated at 1am and nine more beacons had been activated by mid-afternoon.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) Queenstown-Lakes assistant commander Nic McQuillan said it was initially believed "100 or so people" in Macetown were trapped by the river, but information was "vague".
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre, based in Wellington, co-ordinated an integrated response between police, St John and Fenz, he said.
"It took a lot of work for us to get the detail. None of us had any information to start.
"Initially, we just didn’t know if there was a problem or where the problem was ... so it was just basically establishing all that communication, connecting with the right people from the right organisations, and figuring it all out and then come up with a plan and get the information so we knew whether it was real or not."
Rescue efforts were stood down around noon after rescuers had "feet on the ground" at Macetown and it was established people were OK, he said.
However, one athlete said, while the event safety crew was "very competent" and kept people alive, the race should have been called off earlier and river levels checked more frequently.
"Conditions on the mountain were treacherous in the dark for an event which was pitched for beginner ultra competitors. ‘Show must go on mentality’ seems tone deaf."
"The people who activated their emergency beacons had no choice as to continue until they couldn’t no more. Extremely poorly done by the organisers."
On social media, family and friends of race participants criticised the event’s organisers for poor communication as they searched for updates on loved ones.
An update on the Southern Lakes Ultra Facebook page last night said all athletes who were evacuated and taken to hospital had been discharged.
Attempts made by the Otago Daily Times to contact race organisers have been unsuccessful.
