After 88-degree temperatures during the Chicago Marathon claimed the life of a 35-year-old Michigan police officer and sidelined 250 to 300 runners Sunday, Baltimore Marathon organizers are revisiting health and safety plans.
Also Sunday, Michael Banner, 25, of Fairfax County, died during the Army Ten-Miler in Arlington, Va. The runner collapsed about 200 yards from the finish line.
The two deaths gave Lee Corrigan, executive director of the Baltimore Running Festival, pause.
“The most important thing is that we?re prepared,” Corrigan said.
The Running Festival includes the marathon, half-marathon and other shorter runs.
“The good news for us is the weather looks like it?s going to break,” he said. “No. 2, we have an excellent medical team ? Johns Hopkins emergency medicine is the best.”
A staff of 250 from Hopkins will oversee seven medical aid tents along the 26.2-mile route, and a large medical tent at the finish line.
“You can never be 100 percent prepared for everything, but we?re going over all our backup plans two and three times,” Corrigan said.
Still, injuries or serious incidents are rare in marathons, said Dr. Bill Howard, director of the Sports Medicine Center at Union Memorial Hospital. “Most people don?t get hurt during the marathon. Most people get hurt in training. The most common injuries people have are overuse injuries like tendinitis, and nothing says overuse like running a marathon.”
Often his team will help people run after their regular physician recommends they give up marathons. “The family physician is correct: If they stop doing it, the pain will clear up,” Howard said. “Our job is to help people do what they want to do.”
On the other hand, he said, anyone can run a marathon if he or she is willing to put in serious training, and runners take their time, five to six hours. That?s usually not a problem, Howard said. “It?s rare that people who choose to run 26.2 miles come into it without a lot of previous experience running.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
