Chicago Marathon Disaster

Yesterday, the Chicago Marathon turned deadly, killing one and sending hundreds to the hospital.  The race was run in record heat and quite possibly without enough beverages for runners.   The race was halted after 3 1/2 hours for safety. 

Some quotes from the race:

"I had no water until Mile 8," said Blayne Rickles, 57, of Denver.

"There were people falling all over the place," said Rob Smith, 40, of Naperville, who was running his first marathon."

A hot fall is obviously problematic when it comes to the dangers of heat.  In most cases, your body has adjusted to several weeks of cooler weather during training and is simply in a poor position to cope. 

As terrible as this run turned out to be, there is one theory that suggests the fatigued runners simply had to stop and put up their feet.  I'm not so sure about that.

There was actually some grumbling about the need to call the race from some runners.  I can appreciate their disappointment, but as someone who has completed a mountain bike race with a stick impaled through my hand, I also understand that competitive people in a competitive environment often need some help making the right decisions. 

Perhaps that is the most important and dangerous part of the effects of heat and fatigue:  a reduced ability to make the right decisions.  This piece suggests the reason is that fatigue causes you to re-route more of your cognitive functions towards the movement and less away from your decision making.  Perhaps not quite that simple...

ERIC

Comments

[Mark Watkins]

I am a cardiiologist who was running my second marathon. I am from the south so I trained in heat and yes it was hot but the water situation was out of control. I went through two water stations with no water between mile 13 and 20 and then a bus was pulled in front of us and we were told the race was over. Even then there was not water offered to us. I personally watched as dozens of people began to drop to the ground with no one around to help except other runners. Finally a fire truck opened up the water hose on us and runners began to get some relief even drinking from the gutter. I saw the 35 year old man drop and die at mile 18. He did get immediate assistance but had no pulse. The group I was running with was the 4:30 to 4:45 runners and we were left to take care of ourselves. The community came to our rescue with water and ice but NO OFFICIALS were anywhere to be found. I kept hearing people say " This is no marathon, this is a disaster". And it was... Yes, there would have been heat related injuries due to the record heat but I GOT NO OFFICIAL RACE WATER FROM MILE 13 TO MILE 20. When I hear the director of the marathon stating that there was adequate water, I can't believe it. That is as far from the truth as one can get. Are they covering up in hopes of getting the Olympics. The Chicago Marathon Officials should put out an official apology to all runners and more importantly they need to admit there short commings and make sure that this kind of disater never happens again. I would hope that unless an official apology is issued ,all runners boycout the 2008 Chicago Marathon. The city of Chicago was great but the race was an unorganized disaster that could have been avoided.

[Stephanie Zehr]

I was running the same race at the same pace. My plan was for a 420. The evening before we readjusted to a 430 and not far into the race we adjusted to 445. I can not in good faith say that there was not water available for me, it just wasn't always already poured in the cup,sometimes the demand for water caused a wait. I was never without water, but sometimes I had to wait for the volunteers to pour the water, so if I was willing to wait, I got water.

There is no doubt that the heat was an issue and the number of water stations was not satisfactory, especially for runners who were not willing to wait if the water was not ready for them as they ran by. It is OUR own responsibility to see that our needs are met.