We beat the heat

Tuesday 16th October 2007, 12:00AM BST.

LOCAL runners Mark Stevens and Andy Smith were probably wishing they had stayed in Jersey to do their marathon last weekend.

Instead the pair found themselves in Chicago, taking part in their annual marathon which could only be described in one way – a nightmare. The city hit the news last weekend after organisers had to call off the run half-way through because of the searing 31ผC (88ผF) heat, lack of water and the fact that hundreds of runners were hospitalised. One runner, a 35-year-old policeman, died half-way round the route and emergency services were rushed off their feet taking over-heated runners to hospital. Mark and Andy, who ran the marathon in aid of the Macmillan Cancer charity, eventually finished the 26.2-mile course in 6 hr and 6 hr 24 min respectively, albeit by walking the last nine miles. ‘It was brutal,’ Andy said.

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