3 runners die at Detroit Marathon

I agree 100% with the above post. Have some respect for those who passed away or at least their families and loved ones.

Some people on this board are cruel, heartless people. It makes me wonder if they act this way because of the anoninimity or because they are truly sick and twisted.

Well said my friend. Gold Star comments.

I was physically central to all the medical trouble and am still feeling distressed by the deaths of the 3 men. One young man fell ill and collapsed 30' from me. The others I learned about thru radio chat & the sound of ambulances. So much that was so awful happened in a such a short period of time. It was overwhelming. I was busy trying to call the races but my mind was half-full w/the overtly serious nature of the emergencies.

These were men w/many friends & family. May they RIP.

Over sixty posts, and not a single one that provides any useful information about these people. Who were they? What were their PRs, racing histories, and medical histories? Were they fat or skinny? Hasn't anyone bothered to do some serious googling? (I'm not interested enough to bother.)

Congrats to Nick Stanko and Sarah Plaxton. Because everyone at work knows that I am a runner, they all wanted to talk about the 3 deaths. My response was always the same......"do you know who won?" If they told me no then I refused to talk about the negatives.

Wisenheimer wrote:

not in agreement wrote:

(I think our sport should be more exclusive)

Why?

I think a big reason why football, baseball, and basketball are so big and gets such respect is because they don't allow everyone to participate. People do on a certain level (slow pitch softball, pickup bball games) but the average joe's don't usually convince themselves that they're training for it like the pro's do.

I was reading an article not long ago about some race results. And naturally, the article as 95% covering the guys who went 1-2 in the race. It was an online article so people could post comments. One comment was a guy in his late 30's who told the article author that while the contributions of the 1st and 2nd place runners are great, there are many others out there training just as hard that deserve similar recognition. I refrained from commenting back but that poster has absolutely no clue about the differences between how hard good runners train compared with 3 hr marathoners. But they THINK they do. If the sport was more exclusive (like the more popular sport) then the average joe's wouldn't mistake themselves as "runners" any more than slowpitch softball guys don't call themselves ballplayers. When you're good at the sport, it can be annoying that so many others can call themselves a "runner" just like you. While that may seem like a petty argument, keep in mind it's my opinion.

But I think that reason applies to the sport on all levels. High schools have to accept the kids out there finishing 10-15 minutes behind the winner in a 5k. Football coaches don't have to play kids with far less ability than all the other kids. So why should runners?

Even college runners in D2 and D3 and NAIA...while there are tons of fast runners in those divisions, many of those schools also have males running 30:00 for 8k. That just shouldn't happen in my opinion. Those guys are not "college athletes". It waters down our sport for the guys who are actually talented.

Lots of people think the inclusiveness of our sport is unique and is a good thing. I don't.

A 38-year-old man died during a Kelly Clarkson concert. Being over 29, he obviously had no business being at any concert, especially a full length Kelly concert.

It is outrageous that this is even a story. The real story is that Kelly opened with her crazy hot hit, "My Wife Would Suck You."

The worst part is that he went to a concert without being pre-screened for existing heart problems that can be set off by a high F flat.

His wife and kids didn't tell him he was too old to leave the house, so F them.

Avocados Number wrote:

Over sixty posts, and not a single one that provides any useful information about these people. Who were they? What were their PRs, racing histories, and medical histories? Were they fat or skinny? Hasn't anyone bothered to do some serious googling? (I'm not interested enough to bother.)

Did anyone bring up the death at the Baltimore marathon a few weeks ago at mile 25?? The person was only 23 yo and was a former lacrosse player and cross country runner.

How would this help "our" sport. And who gets to be included in the "our" group?

Congrats to the winners. Let's be real though, the times this year were fairly modest throughout all races. The winning time in the women's half marathon(1:18:50) is probably the most competitive, although I've never heard of her. Unfortunately there was practically zero coverage and as far as I know they didn't show or interview the winners on tv.

This race has become a joke.

1. No Elites

2. No Coverage of Winners--which will eliminate the sub elites in future years.

3. Proud of being full to capacity.

That means that this event has turned into one big Biggest Loser type event. Watch fat people sweat and call it a sport.

70 posts and not one person mentioned the possibility of murder? Can homicide be ruled out at this point? How do we know their water was not spiked with something toxic?

Not true. They could have been healthy in terms of how they lived their lives and the choices they made but had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or long QT syndrome. Or they could have had genetic coronary artery abnormalities. If you have these things I wouldn't necessarily call you unhealthy but they are definitely ticking time bombs.

Confident it will all work out wrote:

That sentence makes no sense. If they were healthy, there wouldn't be a ticking time bomb. They thought they were healthy, but they weren't.

provoke someone else with questions. i'm not biting and debating. although it was a bit of a ramble, i think my opinion is quite clear. And i'm not alone. You're free to disagree.

Cheers!

I agree with MRunner and this is probably the worst set of postings in the entire time I have been reading Lets Run (7-8 years?). I hope it gets deleted ASAP. First, I cannot believe how many people are so concerned about the winners and coverage of the race. New flash - almost no one in the US cares who wins big time races like Boston and NY, so I can guarantee you that zero people actually are curious who wins Detroit. Second, and more importantly, three people died in the race. I know people die every day, but the newsworthy fact is that three people died within 16 minutes of each other in a half marathon. I feel terrible for the families and friends of all these individuals. Lastly, the claims that perhaps these people were out of shape, should not have been racing in the first place or that the deaths were preventable are idiotic at best. While obviously not elite, the youngest of the 3 men ran a 1:53 which is a completely respectable time and probably not run without months of training and "long" weekend runs of 10-12 miles. There was also a photo of the other gentleman in a Lansing paper article and he appeared to be in very good shape from the picture of his torso.

I am a runner of similar ability to the youngest gentleman and a similar family of the other one who has three young children. Stop thinking of yourselves by making ridiculous posts and have some compassion for your fellow man and "fellow" runners, even if you think that they are so far beneath you. You should be ashamed.

I read your post and after pondering on your comments, I must say......................Congrats to Stanko on the victory. Also great race by Sarah Plaxton to come from so far back for the win.

An outpouring of grief came through for Ryan Shay? Get your facts straight buster! This message board was ravaged for weeks by people accusing Shay of abusing PEDs and dying as a result... many of the threads starting within minutes of Hall's win. The mods deleted most of them, but letsrunners certainly did a stellar job of living up to their "no blow is too low, let's always focus on the negative" reputation. There is no human being whose death letsrunners wouldn't seek to piss all over in a heartbeat once it makes the news. Get used to it or head over to the runnersworld forums!

Discussion Starter wrote:

Can't wait till the anti-runners get a hold of this.

Some say guns kill people so we outlaw guns. If marathons kill people shouldn't the same logic follow?!

I ran in the detroit marathon on Sunday. At about mile 12 the half and full course diverged so I wasn't fully aware of the incidents. I didn't know about the death until hours later.

So all three men were in the half marathon. The 26year old completed it in 1:53. The other two gentlemen collapsed between miles 11 and 12. The 65 year old at least had run in about 50 previous marathons according to the man's son.

It stayed cool throughout day and there were plenty of hydration and aid stations throughout the course so it seems unclear whether it was largely exertion or underlying medical conditions. I am just lucky to be alive. I hope the families are finding a way to cope with such a sudden tragedy.

Doctor Feelgood wrote:

Some say guns kill people so we outlaw guns. If marathons kill people shouldn't the same logic follow?!

Marathons have never killed anyone. Underlying medical conditions have killed people that were running the marathon.