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Wisconsin race winner suffers frostbite, scheduled for amputation
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Follow local news on TwitterMILWAUKEE — Andrew Wells may pay a heavy price for his victory in last weekend's Frozen Otter Ultra Trek: two toes.
The 27-year-old from Davenport, Iowa, was one of only two competitors to make it past the halfway point of the 64-mile race that started at noon Saturday. He spent nearly 17 hours on the Ice Age Trail in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest.
At one point, the temperature dropped to nearly 15 below zero.
Wells was the only person to make it past the fifth checkpoint near the 40-mile mark.
He got turned around and mistakenly returned to the finish area, where at 5 a.m. Sunday he was declared the victor for covering the longest distance: 49 miles.
"I guess it was fortunate that I went back to the finish," Wells said. "Otherwise, I would have kept going. At the 40-mile mark, I felt great."
Wells said he never noticed the frostbite set in.
"My feet were obviously frozen, so I couldn't feel them," he said. "And it was too cold to take my shoes off to check my feet. On my hands, I had mittens on, and just to take them off for 30 seconds, my hands got really cold, painful.
"I thought my toes were OK."
After finishing, he went to a friend's home in Madison and napped. He woke to intense pain in his toes. He removed his shoes and discovered a purple discoloration.
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