Monday's Boston Marathon was hot. Did you hear about that? It was very hot! Don't believe me?
"It was brutal, just brutally hot," said 38-year-old runner Jason Warick of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who took an ice bath before the race to cool his body. "Around 15 miles the wheels just came off. Then it was just about getting home."
See, very hot.
The Boston Athletic Association sent out numerous warnings to runners leading up to Monday's race, even going so far as to advise them to not think of it is as a race at all, but rather an "experience," and greatly increased the amount of water available. But there is only so much that can be done when the temperatures are in the mid-80s, which is why some 2100 runners ended up needing medical treatment.
"On an average normal marathon Monday, we treat approximately 600-750 runners on site, and have anywhere from 20-25 hospital transports. This year we had 2,181 athletes or spectators treated in the four medical aids tents along the course and in the three tents at the finish line," says Marc Davis, communications manager for the B.A.A.
Even still, the Boston Marathon had 21,603 finishers -- with only 932 dropping out.
Some more numbers from the BAA:
26,716 entered the 116th Boston Marathon
22,863 picked up race numbers
22,535 started the marathon
21,603 finished the marathon
3,853 did not pick up race numbers
328 are eligible to defer their entry to next year. The BAA did say the number could increase because it is still sorting through additional requests for deferment based on entrants who chose not to travel and communicated their intentions after the deferral option was introduced on Saturday.