SAVANNAH, GA – Mother nature took a toll on runners this morning during the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon and half marathon race in Savannah.
Heat and humidity was so bad it prompted race coordinators to divert runners to the shorter race route.
It started as a morning run with weather conditions warmer than average for November in Georgia and by mid morning things heated up both the weather as well as runners.
“We figured it would be in the fifties when we got up and it was in the seventies we did not expect this,” says Charles Praytor who’s from Florida and ran the race with a group.
The heat was something thousands of runners and race officials did not expect. By 10 o’ clock temps reached to the upper 70s combined with high humidity.
“It felt about a 150 degrees. It started off real hot, I think it was humidity and it cooled off the further we went the cooler it got, it seemed,” says Praytor.
Nearly summer like conditions took a toll for these fall time runners.
“All the medical stations had a lot of people at them i think they were cramping up from all the heat,” says Atlanta runner Jill Drake.
Conditions grew dangerous enough that race coordinators turned runners around to the shorter race routes.
“The one thing we can’t control is mother nature but the team, the city everyone has been working really hard to ensure the safety of the participants not only the community but at the same time all the friends and family that are out here,” says Competitor Group president Josh Furlow.
Competitor group is the host of the RnR marathon.
Medical staffs and hydration stations had their hands full with over heated runners. For those affected by the diversion race leaders plan to offer a refund.
“We will contact each individual, separately that was impacted by time and off them to come back to any other rock n roll for free, for the rest of the year and/or through next year as well,” Furlow says.
