By Dina Mishev

February 28, 2002 An experienced adventure racer died of a heart attack just an hour before her team would have crossed the finish line in Chile and Argentina's four-day Desafio de los Volcanes on Sunday. An autopsy revealed that her death was not attributable to the strenuous, multi-sport race.

"This is very, very sad," said Felipe David Riseling, the race director for the Chilean portions of the race. "We stopped the race as soon as we heard what happened."

Tatiana Goldoni, 27, of Uruguay's Team Dark Dog, died almost instantly when she suffered a heart attack near the end of the trekking stage of the race. She, along with teammates Reuben Mandure, 36, and Nestor Parra, 29, had been trekking for about ten hours when Goldoni fell to the ground, according to Riseling. Having finished the challenging ropes course portion of the course just prior to beginning the trekking stage, all three were carrying light packs.

"The trekking portion of the race was very, very difficult," said Riseling. "It was nearly 99 degrees and people were [sweating profusely]."

The entire course covered 250 miles of punishing Patagonian terrain. Competitors were required to whitewater raft, canoe and kayak, trek, navigate, mountain bike, and complete a technical ropes course. This was the second year the race was held.

The "Challenge of the Volcanoes" began in Pucón, Chile, on February 19, crossed the Andes, and ended in San Martin, Argentina. Sixty-five teams started, but only 35 finished. In the most recent Eco-Challenge, the best known of the 400-some adventure races held worldwide each year, 67 teams started and 55 finished.

Goldoni was a veteran adventure racer, having competed in the last three Eco-Challenges and the 2000 Raid Gauloises. During the 2001 Eco-Challenge in New Zealand she suffered a mild case of hypothermia that forced her team to drop out. Individually, Goldoni competed in orienteering, kayaking, and swimming events.

"The news on the grapevine is that she had a heart condition," said Jonathan Geisler, the co-founder and event director of Adventure Racing Canada and the Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship.

An autopsy conducted soon after Goldoni died reveled that "her death could have happened anywhere," said Riseling. He said he was not aware of Goldoni having a heart condition. "The doctor called it a natural death. It could have happened in her house."

Goldoni is the first known adventure-racing athlete to have died during a competition.

"Her teammates were paramedics, so she was getting medical attention from the beginning," said Riseling. "[Her teammates] told me that there was nothing they could do though. She died so quickly."

The race was immediately suspended. Seven teams had already crossed the finish line and the final positions of the other teams were determined by where they were on the course at the time of Goldoni's death. Her team placed 14th overall and sixth in the co-ed category.

While the Adventure Racing Association's Web site is full of emails about Goldoni and speculations about what may or may not have attributed to her death, Geisler said that he didn't think the death would create any sort of backlash against adventure racing. "There have been deaths and injuries in a host of other sports. Look at how many people have died on Everest, but there are still people that want to climb it."