A California ultramarathon runner was attacked by a bear during a 50-mile run through Yosemite Valley over the weekend.
John Kyle Moir was just a mile from the victorious finish of a long-distance run Sunday night when he collided with a large adult black bear. he told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.
The 33-year-old set off from his home in June Lake and headed across the Sierra Nevada mountains to Yosemite Valley for what he told the outlet was an epic 50-mile dash he’d been planning for years.
But as he approached the finish line, Mohr saw a large, dark shape in the darkness charging towards him.
He said he felt a “sharp pain” in his shoulder before being forcibly thrown into the darkness.
The next moment, about 100 feet away, a group of people were gathering, shining their headlamps in his direction and yelling, “Bear!”
The impact may have caused the stolen garbage bag to fly out of the animal’s mouth, angering it, Moore told The Times. “Next thing I know, the garbage bag was bouncing back at me,” he said.
Moore screamed and slammed a running pole onto the pavement, while terrified bystanders also screamed and banged pots and pans, eventually succeeding in scaring the bear away.
The experienced runner suffered some torn clothing and some scratches but no serious injuries.
He told the newspaper that the crash, which happened near the popular Vernal Falls trailhead, happened just 0.7 miles from Moore’s finish line.
“If he had genuinely intended to cause harm, that was entirely possible,” he told the paper, adding that one of the forest rangers who responded to the incident said he had been with the park for decades and had never seen such an accidental collision.
An ambulance arrived and while medical personnel bandaged his wounds, Mohr refused to be taken to hospital.
Park rangers then told Mohr they had found the bear, which had been tranquilized and fitted with a tracking collar early Sunday morning, and did not say why they’d found it, Mohr told the paper.
“It seems like both the bear and I have had our share of crazy days,” he said.
According to Moore’s watch, he had started his run 15 hours and 59 minutes before the horrific incident.
“It was a really freak, accidental collision,” he told The Times. “If I had just rested my leg for 20 seconds longer at any point during the 16 hours, this never would have happened.”
There have been 10 bear “incidents” in Yosemite this year, a 9% decrease from last year’s 38. According to the park’s website.
Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman told The Times he was not authorized to talk about what happened to Moore.
