Destination Trail cancelled the Moab 240 on Sunday afternoon, two days into a race that was scheduled to run until Tuesday. The 241.8-mile event in south-east Utah was halted after the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel brought flooding, sleet and high winds across much of the course, and organisers concluded that conditions had become too dangerous to continue.
The most serious incident came on Saturday night. Heavy rain raised Cottonwood Creek, a few miles beyond the Bridger Jack aid station, to flood level, and organisers judged it unsafe to cross. Runners were turned back and support crews were told not to drive in. About 70 runners, pacers and volunteers spent the night at Bridger Jack, where Destination Trail brought in a truck carrying shelters, heaters, propane and food. Runner Brian Hamilton said people feared the tents would be blown away.
A helicopter searched for a safe exit early on Sunday. Hamilton and others walked four to five miles to an ATV shuttle arranged with the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, then boarded a school bus to Moab. Organisers said everyone was accounted for, and the last group reached race headquarters by bus in the early afternoon.
Conditions were also severe in the La Sal Mountains and around Geyser Pass, where organisers received reports of aid station structures blowing away, trees falling and freezing temperatures. The National Weather Service recorded a 51 mph gust at Monticello airport around 1pm on Sunday. At about 2pm the race announced that runners still on the course should stop at their next aid station and wait for a crew or shuttle. The route crosses the Babylon Fire burn scar, which offers little tree cover, and more rain was forecast for Moab through Tuesday, with a flood warning for streams and dry washes below the burn scars.
Aaron Kubala was leading when the race was stopped, with Strava showing 214.63 miles in 56 hours 17 minutes. Ashley Paulson was reported to be the leading woman in an earlier update. The Moab 240 was the final leg of Destination Trail's Triple Crown of 200s, following the Tahoe 200 in June and the Bigfoot 200 in August, both of which Kubala won. As of Monday, the organisers had not said how the cancelled final leg would affect Triple Crown standings.