Every Runner Hospitalized After the Santa Barbara Half Marathon Has Been Discharged

Sunday’s Santa Barbara Half Marathon ended with about 30 runners in medical care and a police investigation into what Lt. Ethan Ragsdale called “suspicious circumstances.” Marathon Handbook has followed the story from the first emergency room visits through the race’s statement and the runners’ own accounts. The latest update, reported by KEYT, is that every runner who was hospitalized has now been discharged.

Cottage Health told the station on Tuesday that all 26 runners who went to the hospital had been released by that morning, out of 30 who were treated after the race. It has directed any other questions to police and county health officials.

Santa Barbara police are keeping the investigation open and want to hear from anyone with information, and from runners who got sick after the race but were never seen at a hospital. The county District Attorney’s Office has no part in the case yet, and told KEYT it will step in if investigators confirm a crime.

No agency has confirmed a cause. The county health department considers heat the most probable explanation, and its inspectors had checked the aid stations twice before race day and found the water supplies clean and sealed. Some runners told KEYT their symptoms hit in the closing stretch on State Street. Event director David Monico said in a statement that the medical team “treated numerous runners for dehydration and overheating both on the course and at the finish line,” and that organizers had nothing new to add. “As for the unconfirmed reports circulating, we have not heard anything more,” he said, referring questions to the police. Two runners told the Santa Barbara News-Press on Tuesday that they were still waiting on blood test results.