Three die on bush run

Press, 6 October 1980, Page 1

Three die on bush run

PA Wellington Three young, men died, apparently from exposure, after losing their way on a harrier run in the hills behind Wainuiomata, near Wellington, in near-freez-ing weather on Saturday evening.

Two of them were brothers. Their father ran into the rain and mist of the rugged, bush-covered Orongorongo Range with them but he came out again, leaving his sons and their friend to run on. The father, Dr Ron aid Payne, said last evening that he had left the young men in good spirits in spite of the weather. The dead are David Payne, aged 20; Graham Payne, aged 18; and Daniel Thompson, aged 21. After Dr Payne had left them, the three young men crossed the thigh-

deep Orongorongo River several times and then climbed 300 m through scrub to the exposed ridge, buffeted by strong south-easterly winds, rain, and sleet.

Weather readings for Wainuiomata for the 24 hours to 9 a.m. yesterday showed that more than 50mm of rain fell and that the temperature dropped to 4deg. Snow and sleet were reported in the Orongorongo Valley area. ‘‘David told me where to go and what track to follow out,” said Dr Payne last evening. “He had done the run before and knew the area. They were all keen to run on when I left them.”

Dr Payne said the three had all been experienced runners and trampefs, competing regularly in club events and running to keep fit. They had gone into the Orongorongos, along with about 15 other

members of the Baptist Harrier Club, for an end-of-season run.

As the fittest and fastest, the three had, decided to follow the regularly run trampere’ marathon course while the other club members made a shorter run.

Club members alerted the police late on Saturday afternoon after the three had failed to return. Searchers found the bodies of Graham Payne and Daniel Thompson about 1 p.m. yesterday, lying on a four-wheel-drive track below Cattle Ridge, close to the track they were to have run.

They had fallen about 3m down a bank after fab ling over a fence. Both were lying where they had fallen. The searchers who found them said they thought they had been too weak from exposure to move.

David Payne’s body \yas found on a track leading to the Wainuiomata Coast Road about four hours later. He was about 400 m from the road and had apparently sat down to remove a sock. The search field controller, Dr Tom Clarkson, said that any two combinations of wind, wetness, and cold could cause exposure. The young men — dressed only in running gear, had been exposed to all three. “It still amazes me that people could be running along and just collapse from exposure,” said Dr Clarkson.

People often did not realise that they were suffering from exposure, which causes a general cooling of the body temperature and loss of rationality and co-ordination. Unconsciousness and death can result only

hours after the onset of the first symptoms. Friends of the dead youths described them as “three of the nicest people you could meet.” Daniel Thompson was a trainee telecommunications technician with the Post Office, David Payne in his final year as a science student at Victoria University, and Graham Payne was studying computers at the Wellington Polytechnic. All three were regular church attenders, David Payne being a leader of the Tawa Baptist church’s young people’s group.

A deaconess of the Church, Sister Anne Churcher. said the youths had all gone out of their way to help people, including helping old people with their lawns.

They had been regular attenders at the social group’s Saturday night outings.