Running community mourns death of marathon runner

Runner dies during Detroit Free Press Marathon A runner passed away during this year’s Detroit Free Press Marathon. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco learns more.

The running community is mourning the death of a runner following the Detroit Free Press Marathon.

Corey Bellemore finished fourth in the men's half marathon. He was shocked to hear a 57-year-old American citizen had passed away during the run.

“To see a death at a race is just it's scary. It's like super sad,” Bellemore said.

“You just think of the family, you think of the individual. the race organizing committee. It's hard for everyone. It's hard for the running community.”

According to officials at the Detroit Free Press Marathon, the male runner had a medical emergency around the five-mile mark of the race.

Windsor police told CTV News officers responded to a report of a collapsed runner in the area of Riverside Drive and Elm Avenue. The man was rushed to hospital for treatment but passed away.

Rob Moore, head track coach at Sandwich Secondary, was manning a watering station a few blocks from the episode.

“You see people that are going through that have to sit on a curb for a little bit because you need some rest or people go to the curb because they want to throw up,” Moore said.

His crew oversaw hydrating runners and kept an eye out to make sure they were okay.

“You don’t wish this on anybody. It's hard because now I'm going to think about this all the time.”

A full marathon in 2009 is still fresh in Chris Uszynski's mind. A runner next to him was one of three people that died that year.

“It's tragic. It's something that never leaves you, especially as a race director because you never know when it's going to happen,” said Uszynski, who has been a race director for almost two decades. In the hundreds of thousands of people that have signed up for his races, only three had be taken to hospital.

“Even though there's a million things going on that day, your only focus is the safety of individuals and getting them over the finish line, back to their families and loved ones. It's tragic when it happens.”

Although the cause of the medical emergency remains unknown. Uszinski said it's important to visit a doctor before doing anything strenuous, like running a marathon.

“That's why we tell our runners all the time, make sure you go to a cardiologist. Make sure you get your EKG. Make sure you get checked out. Do a stress test. Make sure that we're actually finding things before we actually go out and stress them for fun,” said Uszinski.