By Keith Barnes
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH — Isaac Macharia spent most of Sunday morning leading the Pittsburgh Marathon by a considerable margin.
Moments after he crossed the finish line, he was on a gurney and headed down a 200-yard path to the medical tent. Three paramedics surrounded him as they pushed him through a throng of half-marathon finishers.
Within 10 minutes, Macharia was sitting up and lucid. Eventually, he left on his own.
Macharia was just one runner aided by a medical staff of more than 350 people, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, athletic trainers and amateur radio operators who volunteer at the event.
While the doctors and EMTs begin treatment in the field, radio operators got in touch with those in charge to come up with an on-the-fly treatment plan. Such coordination had the medical tent prepared for runners such as Macharia and allowed personnel to treat on sight rather than waste precious time on a diagnosis.
“This started in October, having meetings. ... A lot of the authority has been around since the 1980s, so we have a (good) general idea,” marathon medical director Dr. Ronald Roth said. “Last year, we moved (from Point State Park to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center), and we almost started from scratch. ... We have a gazillion runners, and that’s a new twist. It’s a lot of work.”
Sunday’s races drew a full field of 16,000 registered runners, compared with 10,500 in 2009. But even with 5,500 more entrants, the medical committee decided to eliminate a few unused medical stations from last year.
Instead of having stations grouped evenly, they were clumped at the end, with 10 located in the final 13 1/4 miles. Throughout the day, 279 runners were treated, either at one of the aid stations or in the medical tent. That was fewer than projected: UPMC forecast that at least 3 percent of runners — 480 participants — would need treatment.
Though most runners were treated for simple fatigue or muscle pain, others were given intravenous fluids to combat dehydration, and 20 were transported to local hospitals. Even with rain and falling temperatures, the conditions still were not what a doctor wants to see, considering the effects a marathon has on the body.
“Dehydration is always an issue, along with high blood sugar and low blood sugar,” Roth said. “You’d like to see the temperature in the mid-50s. It was too hot, but countering that was the rain and a light breeze”
Copyright 2010 Tribune Review Publishing Company