On Sunday, March 12th, the 50th Elche Half Marathon took place in the Spanish province of Alicante. A reason to celebrate – actually. However, the run resulted in one death and two hospitalizations for heart problems. The dead man was only 21 years old: he collapsed behind the finish line and suffered cardiac arrest. The medical staff on site could not save him.
With temperatures that were already summery, there was definitely a folk festival atmosphere at the 50th Elche Half Marathon. That changed when a 21-year-old runner suddenly collapsed after crossing the finish line. The young man went into cardiac arrest; For about 40 minutes, rescue workers tried to bring him back to life. But even the subsequent transport to the hospital could not save him. The 21-year-old named Fernando Ayala Collado was considered a promising athlete. On Tuesday morning, the city council held a minute’s silence in his memory. According to the mayor of Elche, an autopsy will take place to determine the exact cause of death.
Collado wasn’t the only one to struggle with sudden heart problems on Sunday. Two other athletes had to be hospitalized – one with cardiac arrhythmia, the other had suffered a heart attack. A third athlete had to be intubated in the clinic.
A total of 3,200 athletes took part in the half marathon. Last year, among other things, the death of a 32-year-old at the Brooklyn Half Marathon, in which 22,000 runners took part, caused horror and great dismay: It is said to have been the first death in this run since 2014. A 2019 study examining mortality in marathons (not half marathons!) assumed only one death per 149,968 participants. How do you think these numbers have changed after the “pandemic” and the mass vaccinations?