Police investigate after 27 Santa Barbara half-marathon runners seek hospital care
Authorities are examining reports of unusual symptoms among race participants, while organizers say they believe heat and dehydration explain the illnesses.
By Larissa Bell ·
Police in Santa Barbara, southern California, have launched an investigation after 27 participants in Sunday’s Santa Barbara Half sought emergency medical care. The inquiry follows reports from Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital that several runners had arrived for treatment with symptoms authorities described as unusual.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Santa Barbara police said information received from the hospital prompted the investigation. Neither police nor the hospital has publicly specified what symptoms the runners experienced. The cause of the illnesses remained undetermined in the information provided by Cottage Health.
Cottage Health said its emergency departments had received more patients than expected, including several with similar symptoms. On Monday, the healthcare company said 27 race participants had visited emergency rooms in Santa Barbara and Goleta. Goleta is a small city about 10 miles west of Santa Barbara.
By Monday morning, 24 of those patients had received treatment and been discharged, Cottage Health told the Associated Press. The remaining three were in stable condition. The group included runners who had been transported to a hospital as well as participants who had made their own way there for care.
Race organizers have attributed the illnesses to heat or dehydration. Temperatures reached a high of 88F, or 31.1C, on the day of the event, unusually warm weather for the time of year. Their explanation differs from the hospital’s description of similar symptoms whose cause had not been established.
Event director David Monico said 15 people were transported from the race’s medical tent to local hospitals. According to Monico, the event’s medical staff also treated numerous participants for dehydration and overheating. Those treatments took place along the race course and at the finish line.
Monico told the Guardian that organizers had no further information indicating that the problems experienced by some runners arose from anything other than symptoms related to exertion during an endurance event. His account places the medical problems in the context of the physical demands of the race.
More than 4,640 runners competed in the half-marathon, according to the Santa Barbara Half Marathon website. The course covered approximately 13 miles. The police investigation concerns the circumstances surrounding the hospital visits, with the precise symptoms and their cause still unspecified by authorities and the hospital.
