Santa Barbara Half Marathon Organizers Release a Statement on the Runners Who Fell Ill

About 7,500 people registered for the Santa Barbara Half Marathon and 5K on Sunday, and before the day was out, a cluster of runners had gone to local emergency rooms, and police had opened an investigation into what Lt. Ethan Ragsdale described as “suspicious circumstances.” Marathon Handbook reported on the emergency room visits and the police inquiry on Monday. The race has now responded publicly, posting a statement on its Instagram account that addresses the runners who needed medical care.

Signed by “The Santa Barbara Half Team,” the statement says organizers have worked with local authorities “to provide as much information and access as possible” during and since the event. “At this point we have no additional information to suggest that the issues some of the participants experienced were caused by anything other than endurance event exertion-related symptoms,” it reads. The team also wrote that it did not want to play down what those runners went through: “With this statement we in no way intend to diminish the severity of each participant who was seen by medical professionals.”

Cottage Health had reported 19 arrivals at its emergency rooms on Sunday. By Monday, Santa Barbara County Public Health counted 30 participants treated in total, with 26 of them taken from the race to a hospital (19 to Cottage Hospital, seven to Goleta Valley), according to a county release reported by the Santa Barbara Independent. Cottage Health’s own Monday figures have varied between outlets. It told the Associated Press that 27 runners had come through its emergency rooms, 24 of them treated and discharged by Monday morning and three in stable condition, while KEYT reported a total of 25. By Monday evening, three runners remained in care, the Independent reported.

Public Health said the illnesses were most likely brought on by the heat, and its release described the episode as “an isolated event connected directly to race participation and the heat.” County inspectors had checked the race’s electrolyte drink twice before race day, when signing off on its temporary food permit, and the release said they found nothing wrong. Medical staff got their first request at about 8:41 a.m., from a runner showing signs of heat exhaustion, and the calls kept coming after that.

It was already 80 degrees by 10 a.m., according to a National Weather Service meteorologist who told the AP that such heat was unusual for November. NOAA data puts the day about 10 degrees above the average for Nov. 8, per the Independent, the kind of jump that slows most runners down long before it makes anyone sick. Warm fall race days have already pushed the Twin Cities Marathon to a later date.

Event director David Monico told the AP that 15 people were taken to the hospital from the medical tent, and described what his team saw this way: “There was no unusual symptoms or anything outside of the norm for a half marathon or a marathon or some type of endurance event.”

Police have still not explained what led them to describe the case as suspicious, and they did not immediately answer the AP’s questions on Monday. Rumors on Reddit and other social media in the hours after the race suggested someone had tampered with the water at an aid station; none of the police, the hospital or the county has said anything to support them. The investigation remains open, and police have asked anyone who has information, or who developed unusual symptoms after running, to get in touch with Sgt. Andre Miller at 805-897-2330.

The organizers ended their statement on the race’s responsibility to the people who enter it: “As producers of endurance events throughout the year, it is our number one priority to get all participants from the start line to the finish line safely.”