Four deaths in BUPA half-marathon

Triathlon Forum
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Page three of today’s Telegraph: Four people died this weekend during a half-marathon in Newcastle. Ages ranged from late 20s to mid-fifties. All four men were fit, experienced runners.

Conditions on race day – Bright sunshine, temperatures 68 – 70 F, with 70% humidity. A warm tailwind, combined with 50,000 other runners, made conditions on the course itself much hotter. Lots of other heat casualties on the day, as well. From the newspaper article, it appears that the standard safety measures were in place.

Folks – this tragic event reinforces one big lesson: fitness does not protect you from heat injury. Your first, and best, defense against heat injury is to use your head.

Respect the conditions and alter your plan accordingly – sometimes you have to let that PR attempt, or even that ‘A’ workout, wait for a better day.

Follow good hydration practices. Get on the web and learn the symptoms of dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Learn to recognize these symptoms in yourself and others.

Be honest, people – while we may sit at our computer terminals and shake our heads at the “obvious mistakes” that occurred, I would suspect that most of us have taken risks with the heat at one time or another.

Don’t train scared – but do train smart.

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Holy Cats!! 68-70 degrees seems like a fairly cool day! That’s incredible.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/4260858.stm

Race defends safety preparations

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40813000/jpg/_40813868_generic203.jpg

Organisers of the Great North Run have described the deaths of four competitors as “deeply unfortunate”.

The deaths occurred during Sunday’s 13.1 mile run in Newcastle, in which 50,000 amateur runners took part.

A spokeswoman said: “For there to be four separate and unrelated fatalities is an exceptional and deeply unfortunate occurrence.”

Race chairman Brendan Foster said: “At this time our only thoughts are with their friends and families.”

Organisers defended their safety preparations after the names and ages of the deceased men were released on Monday.

The London Marathon, Britain’s premier mass-participation long-distance road race, has recorded just five fatalities from heart problems among 430,000 runners in the last 20 years.

“There are medical facilities at every half-mile, a fleet of more than 16 ambulances all with defibrillator units, two paramedic bikes and two field hospitals at the finish,” said a spokeswoman.

“The third facility is a major hospital at South Tyneside within 100 metres of the 10-mile point of the course, with dedicated services for the competitors.”

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif “The entry-form states that all participants are strongly advised to consult their doctor”
Great North Run organisers

Temperatures during Sunday’s run reached 20C, about four degrees higher than the average for the area at that time of year.

Humidity was also high and there was little wind to bring relief to runners on the course.

But organisers say that there were sufficient fluids available to runners.

“In addition to supplies at the start and finish, there were five water stations on the course and three specially constructed mobile shower units,” said the spokeswoman.

"As with any large scale participation event, the entry-form states that all participants are strongly advised to consult their doctor prior to undertaking any exercise programme.

“As in all previous years, participants received comprehensive pre-race information about training, consulting a doctor, medical points on the course and further day of the race advice.”

A spokeswoman for South Tyneside coroner’s office said post-mortem examinations were being carried out on the dead men this week

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How… how… HOW?

70 degrees and sunny does not a hot day make in my book, and I’m in temperate Seattle! I find this rather troubling. Hopefully it doesn’t come back to the race organizers – it seems like they did everything possible (well, okay, above and beyond from my scan of their race prep) to provide a safe event.

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nothing is certain until the postmortems are complete. But with tailwinds, humidity, crowds, and British runners unacclimatised to heat, heat stress is very possible even at 70 degrees…

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“nothing is certain until the postmortems are complete…”

Right you are – the complete story will probably be more complex and it might turn out not to have been the heat at all. My post was a quick reaction.

What struck me was the number of times I’ve gone out and run in the heat (KS, TX) without really thinking about how the conditions might affect me: “I’m in shape, I’ll be OK”. Not really smart.

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I read the Telegraph story and found it incredible! How did this happen? Why did it happen? I run in Orlando in the summer in the heat and humdity and much worse than 68 degrees! I’m old as dirt, but acclimated, admittedly. Certainly if these runners were “fit” (what the hell does that mean?) they would have been unlikely to have suffered heat stroke unless their hydration was inadequate or they got some bad water or food? I suspect something else…I would add that the size of the race has gotten out of hand, IMHO. And, it is a charity event so you have large numbers of newbies running 13.1 miles.

Regardless, this is a very tragic event, so let’s hope we have some answers forthcoming from the authorities.

-Robert

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I live very close to where the run is at (30-40miles away) and that temperature isn’t exactly hot in this area! Didn’t do the run cos I was doing a Sprint Tri on the other side of the country…