Tri State
However unlikely, there’s always a chance
Death by running a possibility athletes must consider
By Kevin Spradlin
Tristaterunnur.com
CUMBERLAND – Google ‘runner died.’ Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Didn’t think there were that many results, did you? Fact is, there is a chance, no matter how slight, that any race in which you are in charge or choose to compete, someone will not make it out alive.
On Saturday at the Charleston Distance Run 15-miler, 66-year-old Don Bird of St. Albans, W.Va., collapsed after crossing the finish line, according to reports from WOWK-TV. The news station reported that Bird had not trained for the challenging, hilly terrain but had completed the course several times before.
Paramedics on scene attempted to revive Bird, to no avail.
Of course, the most famous recent death of a runner is Ryan Shay, who died in the sixth mile last November during the men’s Olympic Marathon Trials in New York’s Central Park. Shay, 28, had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart but doctors had cleared the national-caliber runner to compete.
It’s unnerving that someone with such a stellar running pedigree can go down during a race. What makes the average runner feel it can’t happen to them? In fact, it can. And once it occurs, survivors are left to figure out what went wrong and what could have been done to prevent such a tragedy.
Six months ago, 27-year-old Adam Nickel, an experienced long distance runner, fell to the ground after crossing the finish line of the Little Rock Marathon in 3 hours, 2 minutes and 26 seconds – good for 18th place overall. But a medical examination afterward revealed that Nickel suffered from “multifocal small coronary artery fibromuscular dysplasia,” according to an Associated Press report. In other words, he had “microscopically small heart arteries that tended to restrict the flow of blood,” doctors said.
That, combined with the fact that Nickel’s narrow arteries were located near nodes that regulate electrical pulses in the heart and, combined with electrolyte abnormalities seen in long distance runners upon completing a race, caused Nickel’s sudden death, a doctor said.
“This was like a lightning bolt out of the blue, very bad luck that he had this unseen silent abnormality in his heart muscle,” the doctor told the AP. “This is a very, very rare kind of event.”
On some days, a fatal occurrence is perhaps more predictable. The Chicago Marathon in October 2007 was shut down before completion because of unusually hot weather. Chad Schieber, 35, a police officer from Midland, Mich., succumbed to the 88-degree temperature in mile 19. The medical authorities attributed his death to the heat.
At a certain point, race officials directed those not beyond the halfway point to the finish line. Those past the halfway mark were permitted to finish if they wanted. The race had 45,000 entrants. Only 24,931 runners completed the 26.2-mile course.
That same day, a Fairfax County, Va., runner died during the Army Ten-Miler near Washington, D.C. Michael Banner, 25, was a civil engineer in Herndon, Va. The cause of his death was unknown.
In April 2007, a 22-year-old man died in a London hospital after completed the capital city’s marathon the day before. Family members declined to release his name, according to a London Telegraph report, an unusually brutal heat conditions were a possible catalyst in the runner’s passing.
Fatalities of runners ages 22 to 66 have been reported, and clearly they should make runners pause before attempting to compete in an event for which they have not trained properly. But sudden, unexpected deaths can happen to younger people, too.
Also in April of last year, 6-year-old Connor Bryce Smith, of Glenelg, died after finishing the popular, downhill 26th annual Main Street Mile in Westminster, Md. The race attracts a large crowd of youngsters for two reasons. First, ice cream sundaes are promised to all finishers. Second, the school with the most participants receives a cash prize.
Connor was a veteran of the mile, having run his first race at the age of 3. Extended family members were annual visitors to the Carroll County Seat. But Connor didn’t make it to the ice cream stand that year; the cause of death was an undiagnosed heart arrhythmia.
If you completed your Google search and looked at pages 2, 3, 4 and beyond, you’d see there are far too many examples of runners who have died during or shortly after an event.
So be careful out there. Most of these instances were the race's first casualty in each of their storied histories. So whether you’re going for a PR or trying to finish your first race at a certain distance, take a moment to look to your left and right and help keep an eye on your fellow runners. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for you.
Death by running a possibility athletes must consider
By Kevin Spradlin
Tristaterunnur.com
CUMBERLAND – Google ‘runner died.’ Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Didn’t think there were that many results, did you? Fact is, there is a chance, no matter how slight, that any race in which you are in charge or choose to compete, someone will not make it out alive.
On Saturday at the Charleston Distance Run 15-miler, 66-year-old Don Bird of St. Albans, W.Va., collapsed after crossing the finish line, according to reports from WOWK-TV. The news station reported that Bird had not trained for the challenging, hilly terrain but had completed the course several times before.
Paramedics on scene attempted to revive Bird, to no avail.
Of course, the most famous recent death of a runner is Ryan Shay, who died in the sixth mile last November during the men’s Olympic Marathon Trials in New York’s Central Park. Shay, 28, had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart but doctors had cleared the national-caliber runner to compete.
It’s unnerving that someone with such a stellar running pedigree can go down during a race. What makes the average runner feel it can’t happen to them? In fact, it can. And once it occurs, survivors are left to figure out what went wrong and what could have been done to prevent such a tragedy.
Six months ago, 27-year-old Adam Nickel, an experienced long distance runner, fell to the ground after crossing the finish line of the Little Rock Marathon in 3 hours, 2 minutes and 26 seconds – good for 18th place overall. But a medical examination afterward revealed that Nickel suffered from “multifocal small coronary artery fibromuscular dysplasia,” according to an Associated Press report. In other words, he had “microscopically small heart arteries that tended to restrict the flow of blood,” doctors said.
That, combined with the fact that Nickel’s narrow arteries were located near nodes that regulate electrical pulses in the heart and, combined with electrolyte abnormalities seen in long distance runners upon completing a race, caused Nickel’s sudden death, a doctor said.
“This was like a lightning bolt out of the blue, very bad luck that he had this unseen silent abnormality in his heart muscle,” the doctor told the AP. “This is a very, very rare kind of event.”
On some days, a fatal occurrence is perhaps more predictable. The Chicago Marathon in October 2007 was shut down before completion because of unusually hot weather. Chad Schieber, 35, a police officer from Midland, Mich., succumbed to the 88-degree temperature in mile 19. The medical authorities attributed his death to the heat.
At a certain point, race officials directed those not beyond the halfway point to the finish line. Those past the halfway mark were permitted to finish if they wanted. The race had 45,000 entrants. Only 24,931 runners completed the 26.2-mile course.
That same day, a Fairfax County, Va., runner died during the Army Ten-Miler near Washington, D.C. Michael Banner, 25, was a civil engineer in Herndon, Va. The cause of his death was unknown.
In April 2007, a 22-year-old man died in a London hospital after completed the capital city’s marathon the day before. Family members declined to release his name, according to a London Telegraph report, an unusually brutal heat conditions were a possible catalyst in the runner’s passing.
Fatalities of runners ages 22 to 66 have been reported, and clearly they should make runners pause before attempting to compete in an event for which they have not trained properly. But sudden, unexpected deaths can happen to younger people, too.
Also in April of last year, 6-year-old Connor Bryce Smith, of Glenelg, died after finishing the popular, downhill 26th annual Main Street Mile in Westminster, Md. The race attracts a large crowd of youngsters for two reasons. First, ice cream sundaes are promised to all finishers. Second, the school with the most participants receives a cash prize.
Connor was a veteran of the mile, having run his first race at the age of 3. Extended family members were annual visitors to the Carroll County Seat. But Connor didn’t make it to the ice cream stand that year; the cause of death was an undiagnosed heart arrhythmia.
If you completed your Google search and looked at pages 2, 3, 4 and beyond, you’d see there are far too many examples of runners who have died during or shortly after an event.
So be careful out there. Most of these instances were the race's first casualty in each of their storied histories. So whether you’re going for a PR or trying to finish your first race at a certain distance, take a moment to look to your left and right and help keep an eye on your fellow runners. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for you.
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