Chicago marathon stopped early from high heat

[Steve]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...oll=chi-ent_movies-hed

(High temp was 87 F, Heat Index 90)

I went to it this morning and got to say hi to my friend, my sister and my mother as they ran by. That was between 9 and 10:30. Later I had to go out to the suburbs, where it's hotter and I saw a sign saying it was 96 F out west.

My friend called me there after she finished and told me her final time was 4:16. She said she could have had it at or under 4 hours if she didn't walk the last couple of miles or so.

She also said she saw runners passing out from the heat left and right, and heard many calls of "Runner down!" Also the water stations near the end were all empty.

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Steve

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...oll=chi-ent_movies-hed

I went to it this morning and got to say hi to my friend, my sister and my mother as they ran by. That was between 9 and 10:30. Later I had to go out to the suburbs, where it's hotter and I saw a sign saying it was 96 F.

My friend called me there after she finished and told me her final time was 4:16. She said she could have had it at or under 4 hours if she didn't walk the last couple of miles or so.

She also said she saw runners passing out from the heat left and right, and heard many calls of "Runner down!" Also the water stations near the end were all empty.

Wow. Maybe they'll be better prepared next time in case of unusually high heat during a maraton?

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: KLin

Originally posted by: Steve

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...oll=chi-ent_movies-hed

I went to it this morning and got to say hi to my friend, my sister and my mother as they ran by. That was between 9 and 10:30. Later I had to go out to the suburbs, where it's hotter and I saw a sign saying it was 96 F.

My friend called me there after she finished and told me her final time was 4:16. She said she could have had it at or under 4 hours if she didn't walk the last couple of miles or so.

She also said she saw runners passing out from the heat left and right, and heard many calls of "Runner down!" Also the water stations near the end were all empty.

Wow. Maybe they'll be better prepared next time in case of unusually high heat during a marathon?

I guess you can never have enough water. I figure some runners were taking more than usual to cool off as well as drink, thus depleting supply faster.

 

[Epic Fail]

Nice they have the guts to stop it early to prevent further tragedies.

 

[xdreadpiratedoug]

Sad ... doing the Hotter than Hell 100, it reaches over 110F, but they don't shut it down. In retrospect though, they do have the Devil's Gate that they close off the highway portion because it's blowing tires.

 

[MrPickins]

Cue the global warming freaks....

 

[Hacp]

Global Warming!

 

[daveymark]

don't worry, in 4 days the temp will hit 50

chicago weather > global warming

 

[Exterous]

As for planning...who the hell expects it to be 80+ degrees in Chicago??!! Damn hot weather - I had to use my AC today because it was 88...in Michigan....in october!

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: dreadpiratedoug
Sad ... doing the Hotter than Hell 100, it reaches over 110F, but they don't shut it down. In retrospect though, they do have the Devil's Gate that they close off the highway portion because it's blowing tires.

Yeah, but the temps are expected for that, and so people can train for that (or at least will be prepared for it). Why do you think Chicago had such a problem with heatstroke when the temps were lower than a lot of other places? Also the air in a city like Chicago is going to be different than a town in the Texas plains.

 

[erub]

what time did the race start? If anything they could have seen the forecast and moved the start time earlier..Houston marathon starts their race at 7AM, and it still can get warm by noon, even in Janurary. Lots of marathons have 5 or 6 hr cutoff times, so if they started at 7 AM, 11:30 around mile 20 isnt that harsh..

 

[Steve]

Not sure when the starting gun is fired, but with 45,000 runners it can take a while to even cross the start line. I think the article says the race was called off at 12:50 PM.

 

[Lorax]

start was 8:30 i think.

 

[Platypus]

I ran a few miles of it today with my sister to help her out.. it was brutally muggy and nasty out, that's for sure.

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: Platypus
I ran a few miles of it today with my sister to help her out.. it was brutally muggy and nasty out, that's for sure.

That was rude.
AnandTech Moderator
allisolm

 

[FallenHero]

They actually ran out of water and Gatorade partway through the race. At that point, with the death and 350+ people going to the hospital, and Chicago FD actually running out of ambulances, they told all the runners to walk or stop. No more running was allowed.

Couple of my co-workers trained months for this.

 

[Analog]

The guy that died was from my home town. He was a police officer, in the PR department, helping with kids, MADD, etc. Really sad.

http://www.ourmidland.com/site...1&dept_id=472542&rfi=6

Schieber, a Midland Police Officer, received a 2006 Carl and Esther Gerstacker Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award. In 12 years with the department, his accomplishments included making the Midland Law Enforcement Memorial possible with work done both on and off duty: raising money, addressing citizens, clubs and organizations, and helping prepare the dedication ceremony. He also helped organize the Midland Youth Law Enforcement Academy, from which more than 250 students have graduated.

Within the department, Schieber was a mountain bike instructor who taught officers how to work bike patrols, a field training officer, instructor in the Midland Citizen Police Academy and a past coordinator for Midland County Crime Stoppers. He also worked as the community relations officer and implemented the department's child DNA identification program.

 

[Capt Caveman]

It was really poorly organized this year. The Chicago Marathon is a popular one b/c it allows anyone to run in it. No qualifying times like other marathons so you get tons of noobs running it who are not experienced to deal with the conditions. For such hot weather, they needed to ensure they had enough water and watering stations. I've read they actually reduced the number of watering stations this year. Water stations ran out of water and actually closed, unacceptable for such a huge race with so many inexperienced runners.

Then when they called it off, it was poorly communicated and executed. The organizers will be held responsible for this tragedy and mess.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Then when they called it off, it was poorly communicated and executed. The organizers will be held responsible for this tragedy and mess.

I don't know about that, this is Chicago after all.

 

[Mucho]

The women?s finish was equally stunning. Adriana Pirtea, a 27-year-old Romanian running in her first marathon, was waving her arms in triumph when, with 10 yards to go, the race favorite, defending champion Berhane Adere, a 34-year-old Ethiopian, caught her and flashed by. from New York Times

This clip would be fun to see.

 

[grohl]

Someone's gonna sue! The weather is definitely someone elses fault!

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Mucho

The women?s finish was equally stunning. Adriana Pirtea, a 27-year-old Romanian running in her first marathon, was waving her arms in triumph when, with 10 yards to go, the race favorite, defending champion Berhane Adere, a 34-year-old Ethiopian, caught her and flashed by. from New York Times

This clip would be fun to see.

Sports 101: Never celebrate until you've officially won.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Mucho

The women?s finish was equally stunning. Adriana Pirtea, a 27-year-old Romanian running in her first marathon, was waving her arms in triumph when, with 10 yards to go, the race favorite, defending champion Berhane Adere, a 34-year-old Ethiopian, caught her and flashed by. from New York Times

This clip would be fun to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3u2huIEFkI

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: Mucho

The women?s finish was equally stunning. Adriana Pirtea, a 27-year-old Romanian running in her first marathon, was waving her arms in triumph when, with 10 yards to go, the race favorite, defending champion Berhane Adere, a 34-year-old Ethiopian, caught her and flashed by. from New York Times

This clip would be fun to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3u2huIEFkI

That video sucked lol. Who tapes their TV?

Good find though for the curious.

 

[chuckywang]

And this is the city that wants to host the Olympics?