A South African hero forfeited her official race finish after spending 30 minutes performing CPR on a fellow Two Oceans Marathon participant.
Organisers of the highly attended annual event have confirmed that a 43-year-old women died on Saturday while partaking in the half-marathon run.
It’s understood she experienced complications while running on Southern Cross Drive before collapsing. Authorities say the woman could not be resuscitated, even after receiving ongoing and speedy medical attention.
Two Oceans Marathon General Manager Carol Vosloo said: “Sadly a half-marathon participant experienced difficulties on Southern Cross Drive today and she collapsed. Despite prompt and prolonged medical attention, the runner could not be resuscitated.”
Rowan Eva took to Twitter yesterday (31 March 2018) to celebrate his Two Oceans Marathon Finish but also to celebrate another runner who forfeited her official race finish while she tried to save a life.
“Getting this (medal) today felt quite nice.
But the real hero today is Karen Milford, who performed CPR on a dying runner for over 30 minutes on Southern Cross Drive, ultimately forfeiting her official race finish and medal.
Hero.”
Karen Milford, the Capetonian Paediatric surgeon who was administrating CPR to the fellow runner received a number of tweets to which she replied:
“There were 6 of us helping, and none of us made the 9am/18km cut-off. Also, from what we heard, there were several runners down on Southern Cross. We’re always prepared to stop, and there’s always another medal on another day.
It felt like it took ages for emergency services to get there, but I can see now from my phone logs that it wasn’t that long, and I can appreciate the challenges such a massive race over a massive area creates.
My sincerest condolences to everyone who lost loved ones on today’s race (and at any sporting event, ever). I can’t imagine how hard it must be to lose someone you love, while they were doing something they loved.
I am sure that fellow runners and medical staff did everything they could for everyone who needed help today.”
Numerous participants have also offered their medals to Karen, in honour of her heroic actions.
Aidan O’Conner tweeted: “I’ll gladly give you my medal. What you did encapsulates the spirit of running and why we do it.”
It is incredibly tragic that a runner lost her life but the outstanding act of sportsmanship between the runners is a show of South African Ubuntu, showing humanity to one another, and something we can all learn from.
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