Detroit, Oct 19, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Three competing runners in the Detroit Marathon sadly died while participating. Though there were emergency medical services on the Marathon route, and reports suggest that the medical personnel reached the scene within seconds, yet the 3 competitors sadly collapsed and died soon after.

Rick Brown, 65, of Marietta, Ohio, collapsed at 9:17 a.m., near where Langdon went down, and 26-year-old Jon Fenlon of Waterford collapsed at about 9:18 a.m., just after finishing the half-marathon in 1:53:37, Rich Harshbarger, vice president of consumer marketing for the Detroit Media Partnership said.

The first person to go down was, the thirty-six year old Daniel Langdon, of Laingsburg, who collapsed at about 9:02 a.m. between the 11- and 12-mile markers in the marathon.

It was also revealed that prior to participating in the race, every participant has to sign a medical form and is also encouraged to have a word with their doctor before running. It is still not clear whether all the three had consulted their doctors or not.

“On a day when so many people bring such energy and challenge themselves to do their utmost, this news is very difficult to hear,” said Free Press editor and publisher Paul Anger said. “Our deepest sympathies are with the families.”

When the race started then the temperature was 28 degrees and it slowly progressed to 41 degrees. Investigation is on, to see if the weather played the culprit in the 3 deaths.

The winner of the race was, Sarah Plaxton, of Highland, Mich., who was the top female finisher in the marathon with a time of 2:57:09.

This unfortunate incident happened after a long time. The last fatal calamity in Detroit Marathon was in 1994, when a 42 year old man had a heart attack while running and he died.