CHICAGO (AFP) — The Chicago Marathon was cancelled mid-run Sunday after a record-breaking heat wave killed one person and sent more than 350 to hospital, officials said.
But thousands of runners ignored official warnings and ploughed on even as temperatures soared to 31 degrees Celsius, (88 Fahrenheit) and overloaded aid stations ran out of water.
Scores fainted, fell over with cramps and even threw up from the heat and stress. Most pushed forward as sweat poured off their bodies and onlookers rang cowbells and shouted "you can do it!"
"We tried blocking the route and people just ran through the police line or jumped over their bikes," said Joe Roccasalva, a spokesman for the Chicago fire department which oversaw race safety.
"People just didn't want to stop."
Nearly 36,000 people started the marathon at 8:00 am when temperatures were a balmy 20 degrees Celsius (69 Fahrenheit). Almost 25,000 managed to complete the full race, with about 4,000 finishing before it was cut short at 11:30 am, officials said.
"I came all the way from Brazil so when they said they cancelled it I said I had to finish my 42 kilometers," said Juliana Almeida, 26, who ran with her mother and father and walked the last few miles to finish in 4:45.
Frenchman Jacques LaGreve, 44, was near the front of the pack and was not badly affected by the heat as he made sure to drink plenty of water early on and stay hydrated.
He finished in 3:34, just ten minutes above his personal best among 13 other marathons.
"One of my friends was unable to finish the race and he was really disappointed, but the principle is to finish in good health," he said as he looked for his wife at the finish line.
With its flat and fast course, Chicago is one of the world's five 'major' marathons, alongside Berlin, London, New York and Boston, and has been the site of a number of world-recording breaking finishes.
But many among the race's non-elite runners complained bitterly about the poor coordination along a course known to be friendly to beginners.
"I put my entire summer into this," said Arzu Karimova, 28, of Chicago.
"My entire marathon is gone. I'll never have another first marathon experience."
Race officials had tried to prepare runners for the heat by sending out warning messages several days before the race.
They added about 200,000 more units of water at stations set up along the course, opened up fire hydrants so racers could cool off and increased the number of buses used to pick up runners who dropped out along the way.
But hydrating stations were overloaded as runners picked up three or four cups at a time and runners in the thick of the pack found empty tables and empty promises of more water further along.
"The amount of water was not an issue. We probably had issues of distribution of that water," said Shawn Platt, a senior vice president of LaSalle Bank which sponsors the race.
"We take the safety of our runners very seriously."
As emergency lines were flooded with calls for help, officials decided to cancel the race for anyone who hadn't reached the halfway point within three and a half hours.
The message was hard to get out to the 30,000 people on the street.
Rachel Baker, 30, didn't hear about the cancellation until more than an hour later when she reached mile 20 to find a bus blockading her route.
She refused to quit but was forced to walk a detour route and finish an hour later than she had hoped to.
"At least I'm part of history," she told AFP. "This is the first time they've ever cancelled a race that's already started."
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
