Detroit, Oct 20 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Three competing runners who died in the Detroit Marathon while participating, are now being described as healthy by friends and family. 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.

According to medical personnel, the autopsies were inconclusive on Monday on the bodies of Rick Brown, 65, of Marietta, Ohio; Daniel Langdon, 36, of Laingsburg in central Michigan; and Jonathan Fenlon, 26, of Waterford, northwest of Detroit. The Wayne County medical examiner has now requested for toxicology tests.

All three died just near the finish line. Friends and family of the dead men said they had trained extensively for the 13.1-mile race and were in great shape health-wise.

“This is definitely atypical. In a given year, you’re looking at four to six deaths,” said Ryan Lamppa, a researcher for Colorado Springs-based nonprofit Running USA. “Some years are higher. Some years are lower.”

There are about 0.8 deaths for every 100,000 runners who complete a marathon, Lamppa said. He said he did not immediately know the rate of death for overall participants in full or half marathons.

“Almost all of the runner deaths we hear about, it’s always described as he or she is in great health,” said Jean Knaack, executive director of Arlington, Va.-based Road Runners Club of America, a nonprofit promoting long distance running.