Contents

List of marathon fatalities

The most frequent causes are:

1. sudden cardiac death, triggered by a congenital or acquired heart disorder;
2. exercise-associated hyponatremia or other electrolyte imbalance;
3. exertional heat stroke or severe hyperthermia.

The age distribution ranges widely, from the teens through the sixties.

In 2016, a systematic medical review found that the risk of sudden cardiac death during or immediately after a marathon was between 0.6 and 1.9 deaths per 100,000 participants, varying across the specific studies and the methods used, and not controlling for age or gender. This translates to a few published marathon deaths worldwide in a typical year, although the authors lamented the lack of a central registry for the information.^[1]

The second major risk arises from imbalanced fluid or electrolyte levels, particularly hyponatremia (sodium deficiency, overhydration, or water intoxication). As a marathon medical director described the counter-intuitive and under-publicized risk in 2005: "There are no reported cases of dehydration causing death in the history of world running, but there are plenty of cases of people dying of hyponatremia."^[2]

Heat stroke is an emergency condition in which thermoregulation fails and the body temperature rises above 104 °F (40 °C). It becomes a greater risk in warm and humid weather.^[3]

Origin	Name [ref.]	Age	Marathon date	Event	Location	Cause / Notes
POR	Francisco Lázaro[4]	24	15 July 1912	Olympic Marathon	Stockholm, Sweden	Electrolyte imbalance
SUI	Jakob Jutz[5]	35-36	26 August 1951	Swiss Athletics Federation Marathon Championships	Cham, Switzerland	Heart failure
FRA	Jacques Bussereau[6]	48	28 October 1984	New York City Marathon	New York City, US	Heart attack
GBR	Duncan Kerr[7]	28	22 September 1985	Glasgow Marathon	Glasgow, UK	Pneumonia
USA	Martin A. Wurst, Jr.[8]	32	2 November 1986	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, D.C., US	Coronary artery disease
USA	Edwin Brown[9]	47	14 December 1986	Dallas Marathon	Dallas, US	Heart attack
USA	Thomas Becker[10]	40	8 October 1989	Twin Cities Marathon	Minneapolis, US	Heart attack
USA	William McKinney[11]	59	4 March 1990	Los Angeles Marathon	Los Angeles, US	Heart attack
USA	Lisa B. Christensen[12]	19	4 November 1990	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, D.C., US	Coronary artery abnormality
USA	Julius Becza[13]	58	24 October 1993	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, D.C., US	Heart attack
USA	Samuel Grafton[14]	42	16 October 1994	Detroit Marathon	Detroit, US	Heart attack
SWI	Pierre Marguet[15]	27	6 November 1994	New York City Marathon	New York City, US	Heart attack; also for an unnamed second fatality
SWE	Humphrey Siesage[16]	61	15 April 1996	Boston Marathon	Boston, US	Heart attack
GBR	Anna Loyley[17][18]	26	8 March 1998	Bath Half Marathon	London, UK	Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome
USA	Kelly Barrett[19]	43	11 October 1998	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, US	Hyponatremia
GBR	Don Scott[20]	48	26 September 1999	Robin Hood Marathon	Nottingham, UK	Heart attack
USA	Danny Towns[19]	45	22 October 2000	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, US	Heart attack
USA	Luke Roach[19]	22	7 October 2001	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, US	Heat stroke
USA	Laura M. Clancy[21]	29	20 October 2001	Baltimore Marathon	Baltimore, US	Brain aneurysm
ECU	Cynthia Lucero[22]	28	15 April 2002	Boston Marathon	Boston, US	Hyponatremia
USA	Hilary Bellamy[22]	35	27 October 2002	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, D.C., US	Hyponatremia
GBR	Craig Johanson[20]	28	14 September 2003	Robin Hood Marathon	Nottingham, UK	Cardiac arrhythmia
USA	Rachael Townsend[23]	29	12 October 2003	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, US	Mitral valve prolapse
USA	James Leone[11]	60	19 March 2006	Los Angeles Marathon	Los Angeles, US	Heart attack
USA	Raul Reyna[11]	53	19 March 2006	Los Angeles Marathon	Los Angeles, US	Heart attack
USA	William Goggins[24]	43	30 July 2006	San Francisco Marathon	San Francisco, US	Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
USA	George Spears, Sr.[25]	49	1 October 2006	Twin Cities Marathon	Minneapolis, US	Heart attack
USA	Earl Seyford[26]	56	29 October 2006	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, D.C., US	Heart attack
USA	Marc Witkes[27]	40	10 December 2006	Tucson Marathon	Tucson, US	Congenital heart abnormalities
GBR	David Rogers[28]	22	22 April 2007	London Marathon	London, UK	Hyponatremia
USA	Chad Schieber[29]	35	7 October 2007	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, US	Mitral valve prolapse
USA	Ryan Shay[30]	28	3 November 2007	USA Marathon Championships	New York City, US	Cardiac arrhythmia
USA	Adam Nickel[31]	27	2 March 2008	Little Rock Marathon	Little Rock, US	Coronary artery abnormality; electrolyte imbalance
BRA	Carlos Jose Gomes[32]	58	2 November 2008	New York City Marathon	New York City, US	Heart attack
USA	Joseph Marotta[32]	66	2 November 2008	New York City Marathon	New York City, US	Heart attack
USA	Fred Costa[32]	41	2 November 2008	New York City Marathon	New York City, US	Heart attack
USA	Erin Lahr[33]	29	14 December 2008	Dallas Marathon	Dallas, US	Cardiac arrhythmia
IRE	Colin Dunne[34]	27	1 March 2009	Barcelona Marathon	Barcelona, Spain	Heart attack
USA	Peter Curtin[35]	23	10 October 2009	Baltimore Marathon	Baltimore, US	Undetermined, possible heat stroke; body temperature 107 °F (42 °C)
USA	William Caviness	35	9 October 2011	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, US	Heart attack
USA	Ulysses Thomas[36]	58	5 November 2011	Savannah Marathon	Savannah, US
GBR	Claire Squires[37]	30	22 April 2012	London Marathon	London, UK	Heart attack, DMAA supplement
ESP	Xavier Jiménez[38]	45	17 March 2013	Barcelona Marathon	Barcelona, Spain	Heart attack
GBR	Sam Harper Brighouse[39]	23	14 April 2013	Brighton Marathon	Brighton, UK	Ischemic colitis
USA	R. Jacob Zeman[40]	35	9 November 2013	Rock 'n' Roll Marathon	Savannah, US	"Unsuspected heart condition"
GBR	Robert Berry[41]	42	13 April 2014	London Marathon	London, UK	Heat stroke
PHI	Manases Alfon Jr.[42]	38	7 February 2016	Condura Skyway Marathon	Philippines
PHI	Arnold Lubang[43]	40	7 February 2016	Condura Skyway Marathon	Philippines	Cardiac arrest
GBR	Mike Freeman[44]	55	28 February 2016	Vodafone Malta Marathon	Sliema, Malta	"Natural causes"
GBR	David Seath[45]	31	24 April 2016	London Marathon	London, UK	Heart attack
NED	Rob Bremer[46]	50	26 November 2017	Curacao KLM Marathon	Curacao	Cardiac arrest
GBR	Matt Campbell[47]	29	22 April 2018	London Marathon	London, UK	Cardiac arrest
GBR	Juan Camilo Arboleda Alzate[48]	38	16 September 2018	Medellín Marathon	Medellín, Colombia	Heart attack
CHI	Claudio Agurto Spencer[49]	51	7 April 2019	Santiago Marathon	Santiago, Chile	Aortic dissection
USA	Taylor Ceepo[50]	22	19 May 2019	Cleveland Marathon	Cleveland, US	Cardiac
CAN	Steve Trickett[51]	35	26 May 2019	Ottawa Marathon	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	Heart Attack
USA	Harry Vroulis[52]	74	19 January 2020	Houston Marathon	Houston, US	Heart attack
USA	Gregory McSween	41	9 November 2021	Marine Corps Marathon
FRA	Bruno Meunier[53]	41	5 June 2022	Marathon de la Liberté	Caen, France	Heart attack
JPN	unnamed[54]	69	3 March 2024	Tokyo Marathon	Sumida, Tokyo
USA	Joey Fecci[55]	26	27 April 2024	Nashville Marathon	Nashville, US	"Natural causes"
POR	Marco Gomes[56]	42	28 April 2024	Maratona da Europa	Aveiro, PT

Country	Event	Deaths	Date
Sri Lanka	Weliveriya bombing	15	5 April 2008
USA	Boston Marathon bombing	3	15 April 2013
China	Gansu ultramarathon disaster	21	22 May 2021

• Burfoot, Amby. "Are marathons dangerous?", Runner's World, 3 November 2008.
• English, Joe. "Why do runners die during marathons?", Running-Advice.com, 13 March 2008.
• Noakes, Tim. "Waterlogged: The Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports", Human Kinetics, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4504-2497-4.