Another marathon...another death. This past weekend's Little Rock Marathon is the latest event to have a participant expire after crossing the finish line. 27-year-old Adam Nickel of Madison, Wisconsin, completed the race, then died from cardiac arrest. According to early reports, emergency personnel attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until an ambulance arrived with a defibrillator. If true, this fact raises a red flag in my mind! Why wasn't a defibrillator ready and waiting at the finish...just in case?
Adam is the latest in a string of recent fatalities that should cause racers and event organizers concern. In 2007 alone, runners died at the Chicago Marathon, New York Marathon, and London Marathon (and possibly others that don't show up in a Google-search).
With the popularity of marathon running continuing to grow, the trend of unfortunate race deaths is likely to increase as well. All will certainly not be prevented, however, race directors should follow reasonable steps to minimize these tragedies. Ensuring a defibrillator is available for emergency use at the finish line certainly seems to be one.
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Defibs are now on all
Defibs are now on all aircraft yes? And don't all races have ambulences and/or various trained medical personnel on hand? I feel like I've seen emergency vehicles lined up and waiting?
My point being, that surely these folks have been trained in using a defibrillator as well as CPR...meaning that it is simply mind boggling that having this equipment is not standard race safety procedure. I'd love to hear what a race director thinks?
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