A runner had a close brush with death after falling more than 200 feet off a cliff during a mountain running race last year. The runner is lucky to be alive.
Last July, 22-year-old Stuart Terrill took a tumble while running at the 2024 USA Track and Field Mountain Running Championships at Hidden Peak at Snowbird ski resort. The Salt Lake City race almost proved deadly. While trying to pass a competitor, the runner lost his footing and took a tumble towards a cliff.
Photographer Matt Johnson tried and failed to catch him. The runner plummeted 200 feet.
"He swung wide to pass a runner. His momentum sent him barreling down towards me and I dropped my camera to try and grab him," Johnson recalled. "I heard his terrified screams as he went out of sight down the rocky gully. At this point I screamed for a medic and life flight because I wasn't sure if he was going to even survive. It was rough. It was one of the most horrifying things I've ever witnessed."
As a result of the fall, the runner broke eight vertebrae as well as some ribs, his collarbone, wrist, and a kneecap. He also broke his feet, which sounds painful. He ended up being airlifted to the hospital.
Runner Almost Dies
Speaking with Outside Online, Terrill said that he never expected the accident to happen.
"I wanted to make the U.S. team. In the back of your mind, you don't know how good everyone is before you compete," Terrill says. "You have to try. Making a U.S. team, whether that's on the trails or the track, representing the U.S.A. is my ultimate goal in the sport. The day before, I was checking out the course and got excited. It's time to race.' I wanted to race for the win. Workouts were going well."
But the runner quickly realized he was in another league when the race actually started.
"I was further back [place-wise] in the race than I wanted to be," Terrill says. "All I knew about the course is that it was technical in areas."
When he took his fateful plunge, the runner still remembered what went through his mind.
"It's super rocky, and I was going too fast. All you can think about is putting one foot in front of the other. Stay upright," Terrill recalls. "Reaching out towards the photographer's arm, I thought, 'I'm going to die here. I won't get to say goodbye to my girlfriend, my parents. Those close to me are going to get a phone call, I'm dead.'"
While waiting for help, Terrill came close to dying. He remembers waking up in the hospital. "Life really does flash before your eyes," Terrill says. "The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital."
Following his accident, he endured months of rehab and recovery. It was slow going.
"It took me 40 minutes to do one mile. I felt so proud. It gave me a new respect for movement," he says. "I'm grateful to be alive."
