ROAD RUNNING
Comatose Comrades Finish
Having reached the finish of his debut Comrades Marathon , Junaid Bhayat had to be rushed to the finish venue medical facility for emergency treatment . Thankfully , the story had a happy ending , thanks to the expert care he received from the event ’ s medical team .
This article is adapted from a media release supplied to Modern Athlete by MNA PR on behalf of Netcare . To find out more about the services offered through Netcare hospitals and other facilities in the Netcare Group , please visit www . netcare . co . za .
The challenge of the Ultimate Human Race … that ’ s what drew Junaid Bhayat to enter the 2022 Comrades Marathon . The 44-year-old chartered accountant from Musgrave , Durban , says , “ I have always admired Comrades runners . I was doing shorter distance triathlons , as well as cycling with Team Impi cycling club , when the challenge inspired me to start serious training for the race with a group of running friends in April this year .”
Having done the training , he lined up on Sunday 28 August feeling ready to tackle the 90km between Pietermaritzburg and Durban , and says he was totally in awe of the early morning experience . “ It is an incredible feeling at the starting line . The atmosphere was indescribable when they played Chariots of Fire , Shosholoza and our national anthem before the start of the race .”
So Far , So Good
With the race underway , Junaid paced himself carefully , making good steady progress , passing through the halfway mark in Drummond after five hours and 30 minutes , on pace for an 11-hour finish . “ I walked up a few of the hills , because it ’ s a long day and you can ’ t run every bit of the race . At that stage , I was eating and drinking regularly , and kept going , knowing there were some downhills coming .”
“ I was slightly ahead of my planned schedule , but 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 recalls .
In his determination to reach the end , Junaid ’ s body could not cope with the growing dehydration and the heat generated in the last section of the punishing 90km ultra-marathon . As his body began to give up on him , Junaid ’ s running mates ’ efforts to keep him going , despite their own exhaustion , caught the attention of the television cameras , and millions of viewers watched as Junaid collapsed and lost consciousness just 150m short of the finish line .
Junaid ’ s running mates tried to keep him moving towards the finish line , but when they could no longer keep him on his feet , the medical team attending to runners inside the Moses Mabhida Stadium took over . He was carried over the finish line and his timing chip registered an official finishing time of 11:47:25 , but he was totally oblivious to all of that as he was rushed straight to the Comrades Finish Medical Facility .
Emergency Treatment
The Comrades Finish Medical Facility has been a defining feature of The Ultimate Human Race since 1977 . Headed by Comrades Marathon Association race doctor Dr Jeremy Boulter for the past 42 years , it is lauded as the largest temporary medical facility outside of a conflict zone anywhere in the world . When Junaid was brought in , the emergency medical specialists , Netcare St Anne ’ s Hospital emergency department nursing team , paramedics , physiotherapists and volunteers were briskly attending to a massive influx of patients , as about 80 % of patients attended to in this facility were brought in over the last two hours of the race .
Junaid Bhayat was on course for a solid Comrades debut , but
20 ISSUE 155 | www . modernathlete . co . za suffered heatstroke in the late stages of the race
In spite of the facility being incredibly busy , Junaid was immediately diagnosed and treated by the medical experts on hand . “ 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 ,” recalls Dr Nic Dufourq , emergency medicine specialist from the University of KwaZulu-Natal ( UKZN ).
Dr Reddy was then joined by emergency medicine specialists Dr David Morris and Dr Duncan Havenga , as well as Dr Thembeka Shishane , a registrar of the UKZN emergency medicine programme , paramedic Shaun Paul ( Netcare 911 ’ s regional operations manager for KwaZulu-Natal ), and nurses from Netcare St Anne ’ s Hospital to stabilise Junaid in the Netcare pre-hospital intensive care unit within the tent .
Junaid ’ s core temperature was recorded at 42.2 degrees Celsius , confirming he had heatstroke . This is a medical emergency , as the body can no longer selfregulate at such high temperatures and starts to shut down . The team swiftly
Images : Tobias Ginsberg & Courtesy Netcare