Police investigate as nearly 30 Santa Barbara half-marathon runners fall ill with ‘unusual symptoms’
Runners seek medical treatment as 13-mile race held amid unusually high November temperatures Police in southern California are investigating the circumstances that led to the hospitalization of nearly 30 runners who participated in the Santa Barbara Half on Sunday. Santa Barbara police said in a statement to the Associated Press that they had opened an investigation after receiving reports from…
Santa Barbara police are probing the reasons behind the hospitalization of nearly 30 half-marathon runners who experienced "unusual symptoms" during the 13-mile race on Sunday. The investigation was prompted by reports from Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital about multiple runners seeking medical attention. Cottage Health stated they treated a larger-than-expected number of emergency cases, with many of them exhibiting symptoms of an undetermined cause.
Race organizers attribute any illness to heat or dehydration, noting that the day's high temperature was 88F (31.1C), which is unusually high for this time of year. Of the 4,640 participants, 27 sought emergency care at Santa Barbara and Goleta hospitals. Out of these, 24 were treated and released, while the remaining three are in stable condition.
Event director David Monico reported that the medical team attended to numerous runners for dehydration and overheating both during the race and at the finish line. Monico told the Guardian that there is "no additional information to suggest that the issues some of the participants experienced were caused by anything other than endurance event exertion-related symptoms."
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
