It’s rare that someone dies running a marathon or half marathon. Extraordinarily rare when three people die. Yet that’s what happened in Detroit, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.
Within 16 minutes, three men collapsed and died while running the half marathon in Detroit. All had trained to do the event and – according to news reports all were relatively healthy.
Emergency medical staff were on hand quickly for each man, but none could be saved.
It’s a tragedy but unfortunately it happens. People who sign up for any organized race have to sign a waiver acknowledging that they understand the risk they are taking in participating in an extreme event.