A 61-year-old runner collapsed on Superior Street in the final mile of the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon and stopped breathing Saturday morning -- but was resuscitated thanks to the quick response of bystanders and emergency responders.
Capt. Dan Lattner, an off-duty Duluth firefighter, was nearby and quickly started CPR on the man, who had stopped breathing and had no pulse. Lattner continued CPR until emergency crews arrived a few minutes later, according to Duluth Assistant Fire Chief Erik Simonson.
The runner -- one of 15 runners taken to hospitals Saturday -- went down on the corner of Superior Street and Fourth Avenue West during the thick of the half marathon, eyewitnesses said.
"He was running, and I saw him pass out and hit his head on the ground," Bonnie Rossow of Minneapolis said. "It looked as if he didn't have a pulse and wasn't breathing on his own."
A Gold Cross Ambulance crew happened to be on a call a half-block away, and someone fetched them.
Rossow said emergency vehicles arrived within five minutes, navigating the street crowded with the main group of half-marathon runners.
When Gold Cross and fire department emergency medical technicians arrived, a defibrillator was used at least once on the man, and they were able to restore a pulse and get his heart back to steady rhythm. He was taken by ambulance to Essentia Health St. Mary's Medical Center, Simonson said.
"The patient was talking before he got to the hospital," Simonson said. "He was OK when our guys last saw him. He was talking, breathing and conscious."
By afternoon, he was in stable condition and doing well. He remained at the hospital undergoing tests to determine what caused his cardiac arrest, said Dr. Ben Nelson, the marathon's medical director.
The runner, who is not from Duluth, did not want his name released.
He was one of 15 runners who experienced medical emergencies and were taken to local hospitals. Nine were taken off the race course, and six taken from the medical tent at the end of the various races, Nelson said.
"Some were just precautionary, just for testing, but some were critically ill," he said.
But he said the runner who suffered cardiac arrest at Fourth Avenue West was the most serious case.
"He was a healthy, 61-year-old male with no history of cardiovascular disease," Nelson said.
Overall, fewer runners than usual were taken to local hospitals, and fewer required medical help during Saturday's Grandma's Marathon, the 36th running of the annual race.
"We saw fewer runners in the tent than we typically would," Nelson said. "The weather was very good for running a marathon. It was very cool. And our numbers were on the low side of average."
Copyright 2012 - Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
