Heatstroke robs Comrades runner of medal

WITH the finish line in sight and 15 minutes left to the final cut-off, Comrades Marathon runner Junaid Bhayat had hoped to complete the race but collapsed 150 metres from the finish.

Bhayat, 44, was hospitalised for a week after developing heatstroke during the race. The Comrades Marathon medical team resuscitated the dehydrated runner and placed him in an ice bath.

“I have always admired Comrades runners. I was doing shorter distance triathlons, as well as cycling with Team Impi cycling club when the challenge of ‘the Ultimate Human Race’ inspired me to start serious training with a group of running friends in April this year,” said the chartered accountant from Durban.

He said he had been training and thought he could give the gruelling 90km race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban a try.

Bhayat said he was enjoying the race and even after the halfway mark he felt comfortable.

“I walked up a few of the hills. I was eating and drinking regularly and kept going, knowing there were some downhills coming. I was slightly ahead of my planned schedule, and by Fields Hill I was still comfortable.

“At Westville, my wife and kids encouraged me, and gave me some refreshments, and from there I just wanted to get it over with. I didn’t eat or drink any more after that.

“My heart rate was climbing higher and higher, and I was overheating but I kept my mind on the finish line,” he said.

“As I entered the tunnel at the stadium I passed out. My friends tried to help me but I don’t remember much thereafter. I was unconscious at the stadium and had to be put on a ventilator. In the hospital, I was in an induced coma for two days.”

Bhayat said his collapse was caught on television.

“My daughter, who was at home, watched it on TV as well as a doctor who I cycle with,” he said.

Dr Nic Dufourq, an emergency medicine specialist from the University of Kwazulu-natal (UKZN), recalled: “Mr Bhayat was brought into the facility in a comatose condition by five or six burly schoolboys and placed in the care of a specialist in training from Wits University, Dr Deshin Reddy, who swiftly recognised that Mr Bhayat’s condition was critical,”

Bhayat’s core temperature was 42.2°C, confirming he had heatstroke.

Dr Shabbir Dawood, a physician and nephrologist practising at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital and a fellow member of the Team Impi cycling club, said: “I have looked after patients who ran the Comrades previously and I could recognise signs that made me realise he would need care in the ICU to recover. I phoned his wife immediately, and we started making the arrangements to book a bed and prepare for his admission.”

Bhayat was treated for a few days in ICU to recover from heatstroke and acute kidney damage.

“I would like to thank my friends who tried to get me to the end of the race, even though they were exhausted themselves, and to Dr Dawood and the other doctors and kind ICU nurses who cared for me at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital,” he said.

Bhayat said he would have liked to have completed the race, but was not sure if he would try it again, especially as it had been traumatic for his family to watch what he was going through.

“It was an incredible feeling at the starting line. I met with my friends, and we were feeling strong. The atmosphere was indescribable when they played Chariots of Fire, Shosholoza and our national anthem.

“Although I was prepared and did the route before, on that day anything can change.”