I was there. It wasn't pretty. The amount of ambulances at the scene made it look like a bomb or something exploded in the area. I remember at the end of the women's gold race, there were people literally running with bags of ice from the finish line to get to the females who passed out, because there weren't enough medics at that point.
How did the Chicago Lakefront meet do last year in similar conditions? Oh wait, maybe 0.05% (if not 0.00%) of the entire field had to be taken to the hospital
This sounds strange...so many runners being hospitalized by running 6-8K in mid 80 degree temps. The temperature at the 1976 Boston Marathon was close to 100 degrees and I maybe saw one or two runners over 26 miles succumbing to the heat.
I think you guys see "85 degrees" and just assume that it was 85 degrees. It felt way hotter than that and the humidity was up there. You have runners training farther up north who aren't used to this weather period. Also when weather predicts 80, people assume 80 by mid-day, not 80 by 9 in the morning.
Weather in Florida is much tougher than in California. You don't get the heavy humidity in Cali. And we're still getting a high of 90 every day, low of 74 today.
It was slightly hotter than the weather predicted, yes. By the time the meet was called the heat index was 85. But the bottom line is that those are not ridiculous conditions no matter where you are from. It's a difficult adjustment for people who aren't used to it, but I put more of the blame on people simply being underprepared. I've never seen weather as 'mild' as that shut down a race before.
I ran there today (and finished - no hospital), it felt much worse than it looks/looked on paper and you're in no position to judge if you weren't there. You also have to keep in mind there is absolutely no shade ANYWHERE at the course. It was humid, lots of people, and the tempera. It also got worse as the day went on - I was in the open race which was warm but as you got towards the later races it heated up as the sun went overhead in the cloudless sky.And yes, I drank more than enough beforehand.
James Harden wrote:
It was slightly hotter than the weather predicted, yes. By the time the meet was called the heat index was 85. But the bottom line is that those are not ridiculous conditions no matter where you are from. It's a difficult adjustment for people who aren't used to it, but I put more of the blame on people simply being underprepared. I've never seen weather as 'mild' as that shut down a race before.
nocturnalrunner wrote:
I ran there today (and finished - no hospital), it felt much worse than it looks/looked on paper and you're in no position to judge if you weren't there. You also have to keep in mind there is absolutely no shade ANYWHERE at the course. It was humid, lots of people, and the tempera. It also got worse as the day went on - I was in the open race which was warm but as you got towards the later races it heated up as the sun went overhead in the cloudless sky.
And yes, I drank more than enough beforehand.
I was there today also. Definitely agree that conditions were pretty brutal, definitely tough to run in. I also think that they made the only decision they could have in stopping the meet. My point was just that I was surprised to see so many runners ending up in the med. tent and in the ambulances, and think that many of them had to be under-prepared. The conditions were bad but I've also seen and raced in much worse
I was there as well and i know it was not a decision made by the officials or Lehigh or the workers, but the county came and made them shut the meet down because the hospitals for the nearest 2 counties were full. Felt at least 90 out there and people were dropping like flies
Ditto on being there and supporting the decision to stop the meet. The city streets were crowded with traffic coming in and going out for the meet and the ambulances were having a hard time keeping up with all the kids needing a hospital visit. The medical staff there was understaffed and they didn't have nearly enough water. Kids were laying on the course for 10-15 minutes at times after passing out. They just had to remain there because the gators looking for them already had 4-5 kids in them in a similar state. When they finally decided to cancel the meet the clouds had started to roll in, but before that it was truly horrible.
nocturnalrunner wrote:
I ran there today (and finished - no hospital), it felt much worse than it looks/looked on paper and you're in no position to judge if you weren't there.
^This^
Shutting the meet down was fine but not letting anyone jog the course was definitely overreacting.
That's terrible.
Why wasn't the high school portion delayed an hour or so? Wouldn't that have been the policy if there was lightning/thunder in the vicinity? Sure, it would have disrupted a number of evening plans, made parents wait/worry, but at least would have given the race organizers a chance to "get it in".
I wasn't there, but wonder why someone couldn't come up with a couple lawn sprinklers to cool overheated bodies at the finish? The Peachtree 10K in Atlanta is held every July 4th, and every year there are pictures of overheated runners - but they're usually getting soaked in a sprinkler.
I know it's not "cool" for college-aged athletes (or even high school kids) to run through sprinkler(s), but it helps.
Yes, I feel bad for those that overheated, but I feel worse for those who weren't allowed to race - this whole thing sounds like an over-reaction by lawyers. Maybe we parents should have been allowed to sign a waiver to let our kid race? I would have! And I really don't understand the thing about "no refunds for the HS race". OK, now I'm convinced this race was run by lawyers!
If you didn't run at the meet I really don't think you can comment on how bad the conditions really were. I raced in the open race at 10 and when I was running in a pack it literally felt as if all the air was sucked out of the atmosphere. The humidity and the heat combined with zero shade and 400-500 runners racing at the same time made it feel like it was 100 degrees. Luckily I made it across the finish line. I also watched the following races and it was very hot just standing around, a spectator would not know how it felt actually racing so I was not surprised that so many women in the Gold Race passed out literally 400-500 meters from the finish. I think the problem was that most people saw 80 degrees and prepared for that but didn't take into account the humidity, the tight pack running that would occur and the lack of shade throughout the course. And then it def reached high 80s by afternoon.
I was also there; it was a record high in Bethlehem today. Watching so many athletes wobble and crawl their ways (mostly unsuccessfully) to the finish line race after race was one of the most disturbing things I have ever witnessed. These athletes deserve praise for risking their health for the sake of sport, not criticism for improper hydration. The medical staff was so underprepared that toward the end they were just lining kids up and spraying them with water houses at the finish line. A complete disaster but the right call was made.
Shutting down a meet because it was too hot is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Imagine if they stopped a football game because it was 85? Absurd. And don't say "it was worse than it seems," because anyone who trained in the Northeast knows exactly how bad 85 can feel.
So I'm trying to get a better picture of the situation and I've heard many say that the conditions were worse than the forecast indicates. That's understandable because I've seen that sort of thing before. But can anyone speak to the caliber of runners who had the most trouble today(taken to the hospital)? Are we talking Salazar dropping after Falmouth or midpacker who didn't run enough over the summer?
Funny how everyone is saying it was only 85 there. I checked the weather at 1:30pm and it was 95 with the heat index. I was there and was drenched in sweat, without having raced. Let alone the horrible sunburn I have from being out there. Not sure what the phenomenon was but it was not JUST 85. It was hot as hell out there...
I was there today and was in the women's white division -- the only race that didn't get to run. it was disheartening and sucked, but some of my male teammates were sent to the hospital. Our coach had us do a tempo run of the course right away (since they started kicking people off of the course) and seeing as there's no shade there, it was probably for the best.
I also think that the run had maxed out the number of ambulances/hospital beds, and couldn't go on with the race because of that. There was nowhere left for injured or sick people to go.