Death at Little Rock Marathon

[Jean-Paul]

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Wisconsin man dies after marathon

56 minutes ago


A 27-year-old Wisconsin man collapsed and died Sunday after completing the Little Rock Marathon.
Adam Nickel, of Madison, Wis., was pronounced dead late Sunday morning near the finish line of the race, which attracted about 9,000 entrants, race officials said.
Emergency personal used mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to try to revive Nickel until an ambulance arrived with a defibrillator. He could not be revived and was pronounced dead after being taken to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Hospital.
The medical director of the marathon, Dr. Kent Davidson, said at a news conference that no determination had been made yet on what caused Nickel's death.
"He died at UAMS in the emergency department," Davidson said. "We never (detected) a heart rhythm the whole time we tried to resuscitate him."
Temperatures Sunday morning during the running of the race ranged from the high 50s during the early miles up to the mid-60s by late morning, according to the National Weather Service.
"The members of the Little Rock Marathon Committee would like to offer our condolences and prayers to (Nickel's) family and friends," race director Gina Marchese-Pharis said in a news release.
Sunday's race was the sixth running of the Little Rock Marathon. Nickel's death was the first in the history of the event.

[emartin10]

Such a bummer. I wonder if the rise in marathon deaths lately is due to lack of conditioning, or just a larger number of people running in them. So sad...

E

[RobLL]

there are heart electrical irregularities which under certain conditions can go into failure modes. these are unexpected devestating deaths usually of men in the prime of life. I think that most athlete deaths are so related.

[GG300]

I saw that on the local news this morning and was pretty shocked. You would assume that it most likely wasn't undertraing because the guy had to plan the trip its not like he just signed up for the local fun run. No matter what it is unfortunate.

[Barrett]

I think that people think that anyone can do a marathon now-a-days. I believe that they do not train enough to prepare for a marathon. I have only completed one, and the training part takes up alot of your life. But it is extremely sad. Remember also, the first person to ever run a marathon died as well. It is not something that everyone can complete. I have also heard that the stress you put on your body during the marathon is similar to a heart attack!!! My condolences go out to the runner and his family.

[emartin10]

Originally Posted by Barrett

I think that people think that anyone can do a marathon now-a-days. I believe that they do not train enough to prepare for a marathon. I have only completed one, and the training part takes up alot of your life. But it is extremely sad. Remember also, the first person to ever run a marathon died as well. It is not something that everyone can complete. I have also heard that the stress you put on your body during the marathon is similar to a heart attack!!! My condolences go out to the runner and his family.

Agreed. That's what I was thinking. I'm not trying to get on a soapbox here, but I do think that Barrett is right, there are so many people that view it as an attainable goal, but aren't willing to put in the miles that should be done. Hell - Lance's longest run was 13 miles before his first marathon. All I can say is that I hope people start to realize that it takes a TON of work to run a marathon safely - and without doing major damage to your body.

Regardless, it sounds like this person was in great shape, and it was a freak accident. It makes me so sad to hear this, but it brings to mind an early Fitcast episode in which Lou was discussing heartbeat variances, and how endurance athletes tend to have that necessary variance disappear. I'd be interested to hear what Lou has to say about it..

E

[Jean-Paul]

It certainly wasn't lack of conditioning. He finished 13th overall, and was an elite level marathoner. He was also a wrestler in college, so his condition was excellent. I speculate that we will learn that he simply had a congenital defect.

[ODBSGIRL]

I believe that when the autopsy results were released, the young man in question had an undiagnosed heart condition, one more commonly seen in older folks. This kid was in great shape to any outside observer and I'm sure no physician would have had any reason to check for this. It was just an unfortunate confluence of events that lead to his death at the finish of the LR Marathon.
That being said, one of the guys I see out running here at work on a regular basis went in for some testing following a bout of pneumonia. That was fine but in the process they found a weak spot that had great potential for an aneurysm and they fixed it pronto. Luck. Providence. Whatev.

[JoshDunn]

I believe that everyone should have a more regular full medical. Including an ECG (or EKG depending on where you live), its not the be all end all but certainly will let you know if there's something else worth looking into.

I also think that the lack of training is very prevalent in lots of sports and events, and although its good that people are getting out there, doing something physical and having a go, more people need help from an exercise professional to reach their goals safer.