Chicago marathon cancelled mid race?!!

Printable View

10-07-2007, 02:27 PM
Running Mommy

Chicago marathon cancelled mid race?!!

Due to stifling heat/humidity the organizers cancelled the race 4 hours into it. Not before one man died and 250 were taken to hospital tho...:eek:

WOW! That must have been horrible. Add to the fact that they had 45,000 people running it. UGH! A logistical nightmare if you ask me.

I read one guys account of how he got to mile 16 and they made him stop. That would really suck! You go through all that training, fight the conditions, and then are forced to dnf. UGH!! He also said that they ran out of water and gatorade (or whatever the course sports drink was??). Having run NYCM the one time they ran out of gatorade, I know the feeling! But at least at NYC it was cold. That would just be a nightmare!!

I really feel for the gentleman who lost his life. Only 35 yrs old. MAN! Just horrible!

We didn't have any TE girls there did we??
10-07-2007, 05:39 PM
KSH

WOW! That is so horrible! I had a cycling buddy of mine who was training for it and ran it today. I think his goal time was under a 10 minute mile. I hope he got to finish before they pulled people off the course. I'm sure he's OK though, as he has been training in Dallas, TX through the summer heat and humidity. I hope he's OK. I'll have to send him a message and make sure.
10-07-2007, 06:49 PM
pll

KSH: You can check for your friend's name in http://livechicago.mikatiming.com/ to see if he finished.

There are two heated threads in the Chicago Tribune forum (http://www.topix.net/forum/source/chicago-tribune ). It seems to have been very chaotic with the support stations running out of water and gatorade.
10-07-2007, 07:39 PM
Running Mommy

video of the debacle!!

Check out this video... WOW!!!

http://www.vimeo.com/333397
10-07-2007, 07:48 PM
Zen

It was grueling hot today. we had a pet adoption event and eventually I just had to take my poor foster dog in the pet store to cool off for a while.

how could this happen? It's been hot all week!
10-07-2007, 08:18 PM
KnottedYet

It sounds like the spectators were wonderful, bringing out water and garden hoses and ice for the runners after the water/gatorade stations ran out.
10-07-2007, 09:41 PM
Wahine

Hyponatremia

I don't know if this is what did that poor individual in, but all of you endurance athletes out there need to know about this. That just sucks. All those people, all that training....
10-08-2007, 05:59 AM
Running Mommy

Hyponatremia is water intoxication- too much. Sounds like these people didn't have enough. I read multiple threads from people who ran it that said the organizers are lying- there was NO or little water/gatorade from the start of the race on. Could you imagine running TEN MILES in stifling heat with NO WATER??!!:eek:
Just arm chair quarterbacking here- but my guess would be heat illness more than anything. Heat stroke comes on fast and can be deadly. Add in dehydration and you've got one deadly combination!
No idea what the poor man died from? But my guess is most people who became ill had some form of heat stress. Not good!
10-08-2007, 06:06 AM
Zen

hypo = under (low)
natrium = sodium

Drinking too much water without salt replacement. If there weren't enough water stations it's not likely this was the cause. Just plain heat stroke would be more likely.
10-08-2007, 03:06 PM
limewave

DH ran the course on Sunday. He said that he didn't see any water stations that were out of water, but he was in the first half and managed to finish just over 4 hours. From the other runners, I heard there was water but that the volunteers couldn't keep up with the demand and couldn't fill the cups fast enough . . . I truly think the organizers of the marathon did the best they possibly could and made a good decision in canceling the race. It was scary to watch.
10-08-2007, 04:52 PM
KSH

Quote:

Originally Posted by limewave

DH ran the course on Sunday. He said that he didn't see any water stations that were out of water, but he was in the first half and managed to finish just over 4 hours. From the other runners, I heard there was water but that the volunteers couldn't keep up with the demand and couldn't fill the cups fast enough . . . I truly think the organizers of the marathon did the best they possibly could and made a good decision in canceling the race. It was scary to watch.

Well, from what I have read over at Beginner Triathlete, there were aid stations that were out of water and Gatoraid... but these reports from the BOPers. AKA: Not finishing in 4 hours, but 5-6 hours.

Per someone's race report:

Quote:

That being said, I was not encouraged when I reached the FIRST aid station and found NOTHING. No Gatorade, no water, NOTHING. Luckily, Chris was not too far away and he had a water bottle along the side of the road. He topped me off.

Next aid station... circa mile 6ish... AGAIN, nothing. No water for the first 3-4 tables... they were flipped over and there were cups strewn about an inch thick all over the roadway. The volunteers were raking the cups up... toward the end of the aid station, there was one guy with a gallon of water pouring it into people's bottles. They were out of cups. There was a female volunteer struggling with a new box of cups, trying to open it and get the cups out of the plastic sleeves, while literally hundreds of runners stood around, waiting for water.

Each aid station we went through looked like something from Michael Jackson's THRILLER video... rushed volunteers, trying to get water to zombie like runners who were bouncing around from table to table looking for open gallons of water and cups, which were sometimes hard to find TOGETHER.

We plugged along... passing the halfway point @ 2:49 chip time, which translated into about 3:15 race time because it took us a LONG time to cross the start mat.

At mile 16 we stopped for the bathrooms. Upon exiting the bathroom, I noted ANOTHER packed med tent, people sitting on curbs, ice packs on their heads and necks, people on gurneys... it was quite dramatic and looked like something you'd see in a war movie, sans the blood...and the combat, and the enemy, and the tanks and such, but you get it, right?

Anyway, we were making our way toward mile 17 when we heard an announcement "THE MARATHON IS CLOSED PROCEED 2 MILES AHEAD AND PICK UP YOUR FINISHER'S MEDAL" I was like "What? Let's GO!" So we ran a little further, and we heard it again... "THE RACE HAS BEEN CUT SHORT, PROCEED TO GRANT PARK TO PICK UP YOUR GEAR AND YOUR FINISHER'S MEDAL..." We kept going...

Up comes the RIGHT turn to go south to the south side, Chinatown, Comiskey Park, etc etc... the turn is BLOCKED by both mounted police and police cars... there are barricades up, and there are spectators all over.... and both fire hydrants are open spewing water on to the streets everywhere... There was also a misting machine. (We thought a building was on fire... we had no idea what all the smoke was... turns out it was water...) There was no getting through, and no going past...

So we we walked... past our turn and made the slog back to Grant Park, where we (in this peculiar order) picked up our gear, received a finisher's medal and photo, turned in our chips, and then crossed the defunct, backwards finish line. We were given a banana in there somewhere along the way too. The ice machines at the finish line were EMPTY.

It was the most unusual clusterfcuk I'd ever seen. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is the best way to describe it. People staggering around in a daze, falling over for no particular reason, and people schumped outside med tents along the course, nurses/doctors tending to them... all to the tune of ambulances wailing in the distance.

I believe the RD rerouted the race in order to cut his losses. Immediately. The last I'd heard 206 people were transported to the HOSPITAL, thousands upon thousands more were falling out of the med tents, and one person died. The early lack of water and fluids probably created problems for people later in the race... especially those who did not bring their own bottles.
10-08-2007, 04:53 PM
KSH

Quote:

Originally Posted by limewave

DH ran the course on Sunday. He said that he didn't see any water stations that were out of water, but he was in the first half and managed to finish just over 4 hours. From the other runners, I heard there was water but that the volunteers couldn't keep up with the demand and couldn't fill the cups fast enough . . . I truly think the organizers of the marathon did the best they possibly could and made a good decision in canceling the race. It was scary to watch.

With all of that said... I'm happy to hear that your DH got water and finished the race safe and sound and in good health! Sounds like he had a very fast run!
10-08-2007, 08:38 PM
KnottedYet

I was very worried by the reports that the earlier water/gatorade stations were told to pack up and move their supplies to the later ones to help supply the elite runners. Leaving the regular runners with nothing as they arrived at the stations.

Has anyone heard if those reports have been substanciated?
10-09-2007, 04:50 AM
limewave

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSH

With all of that said... I'm happy to hear that your DH got water and finished the race safe and sound and in good health! Sounds like he had a very fast run!

DH was still a good 45 minutes behind his previous slowest time. It was a tough day out there. Even from the start, the energy was lacking. Usually everyone is shouting and cheering as they run through the first bridge . . . this year it was eerily quiet. It was over 80 degrees before they even started. When I walked towards the finish line I watched a constant stream of ambulances fly by. DH said runners were collapsing all around him. He wasn't comprehending what was happening . . . the heat and exhaustion got to his head and he wasn't thinking clearly. He didn't realize the magnitude of what he saw until the next day.
10-09-2007, 05:07 AM
Pax

Quote:

Originally Posted by KnottedYet

I was very worried by the reports that the earlier water/gatorade stations were told to pack up and move their supplies to the later ones to help supply the elite runners. Leaving the regular runners with nothing as they arrived at the stations.

Has anyone heard if those reports have been substanciated?

I watched the WGN (Chicago) news last night. The race organizers said they had plenty of supplies and had brought in a bunch more the day before to address the heat...then the first groups of runners started coming through the water station and grabbing 5-10 cups of drinking water each to dump on their heads. The later runners were left with nothing.
10-09-2007, 05:57 AM
limewave

Quote:

Originally Posted by Queen

I watched the WGN (Chicago) news last night. The race organizers said they had plenty of supplies and had brought in a bunch more the day before to address the heat...then the first groups of runners started coming through the water station and grabbing 5-10 cups of drinking water each to dump on their heads. The later runners were left with nothing.

DH admitted he would drink about 3 cups and dump 3 MORE cups on his head early on to cool down. The Chicago Marathon people brought in an additional 250,000 servings of water for a total of 1.8 million for 35,000 runners. More than 10,000 runners didn't even show up.
10-09-2007, 07:58 AM
Running Mommy

Something else that made e take pause... They said that there was only 15 aid stations on the 26.2 mi route??
Knowing that the heat was going to be what it was, I think they should have made sure there was an aid station every mile. Maybe hard to do at the last minute, but they did know of the weather for about a week from what I'm hearing.
Also, maybe it's time to cap the # of entrants. With THAT MANY people it would be hard to control.
Just a sad sad day for many runners. To train so hard for something and then to have mother nature intervene. :(
10-13-2007, 08:53 AM
anakiwa

I was there- it was quite an experience! I finished at 4:21 (about a half hour slower than I had meant to run and a personal worst) but given the conditions felt pretty good. It was just really really hot (at mile 20 there was a bank thermometer reading 91 degrees- and that would have been before noon). I knew in the first few miles that it just wasn't the day to push things and slowed down.

From what I saw the race was extremely well organized. I never had a problem getting flluids (though that said I was in one of the earlier start corrals and the masses were behind me). If the organizers made a mistake, it was in letting the race get too big. Stopping the race and redirecting people to the finish was clearly the right thing to do (as it was the ambulance sirens at the finish never stopped).
10-13-2007, 09:03 AM
Pax

Quote:

Originally Posted by anakiwa

I was there- it was quite an experience! I finished at 4:21 (about a half hour slower than I had meant to run and a personal worst) but given the conditions felt pretty good. It was just really really hot (at mile 20 there was a bank thermometer reading 91 degrees- and that would have been before noon). I knew in the first few miles that it just wasn't the day to push things and slowed down.

From what I saw the race was extremely well organized. I never had a problem getting flluids (though that said I was in one of the earlier start corrals and the masses were behind me). If the organizers made a mistake, it was in letting the race get too big. Stopping the race and redirecting people to the finish was clearly the right thing to do (as it was the ambulance sirens at the finish never stopped).

Glad you finished without injury!
10-16-2007, 05:30 PM
Zen

Article

Here- http://www.sportsgeezer.com/sportsge...shorter-o.html