nyc marathon results

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Results of an autopsy today on the body of runner Ryan Shay won't be known for another week after the four-time national distance-running champion died early in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Men's Marathon in New York.

The autopsy included a toxicology test, results of which won't be known until tissue samples from Shay's heart are examined, Ellen Borakove, a spokesman for the city's Chief Medical Examiner's office, said in a telephone interview.

Shay collapsed and was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation around the 5-mile mark of the men's 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) trials in Central Park yesterday. He was transported to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:46 a.m., USA Track and Field said in a statement.

Shay's father, Joe Shay, told the Associated Press that his son was diagnosed with a larger-than-normal heart at the age of 14 and that doctors found it had gotten larger when the runner was examined after a car accident two years later.

Joe Shay also told AP that doctors this year had cleared his son to run, while telling him he might need a pacemaker when he was older because his heart rate was so low.

``He probably underwent pretty high-level screening for a (pacemaker) but never met criteria,'' said Dr. Jonathan Marmur, a professor of medicine at the SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn, who was not familiar with the specifics of Shay's condition.

Marmur, the director of interventional cardiology at the school's Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, said the exact relationship between exercise and death is ``not that well established.''

``It can happen at rest and it can also happen at exercise,'' Marmur said in a telephone interview. ``It may be that (Shay) was destined to have an arrhythmic death.''

Adrenaline, Heart

Marmur also said that there have been studies that show increased risk for heart failure during exercise and that ``one of the hormones that can trigger rhythm disturbance is adrenaline.''

Trials winner Ryan Hall, who trained with Shay and is friends with the late runner's wife, Alicia, said he was ``completely shocked'' when he received the news after the race.

``You never expect to hear anything like that and for it to be my good friend's spouse, it cut me through the heart,'' Hall said on a media conference call. ``He had such great heart.''

Shay was champion of the USA 20-kilometer event in 2004, the USA half-marathon 2003 and 2004, and the USA marathon in 2003. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he won the 2001 National Collegiate Athletic Association 10,000-meter title and was a nine-time All-American.

Dedicated to Shay

More recently, he had trained with Team USA California, which includes Hall, Olympic medalist Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor. Hall, who led three runners who gained berths in the 2008 Beijing Games by winning the trials, said he would dedicate his Olympic training to Shay.

``We were past teammates,'' Hall said in a news conference transcript. ``I think it's a sad thing. My thoughts just go out to him.''

Shay was born May 4, 1979, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. His wife is a professional distance runner and was an NCAA champion and record-holder at Stanford University.

``The United States Olympic Committee offers its deepest condolences to Ryan Shay's family, his many friends and the entire USA Track and Field community,'' USOC Chief Executive Officer Jim Scherr said in a statement. ``Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been touched by this sudden and tragic loss.''

Hall's Time

Hall posted an Olympic trials record time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 2 seconds. Dathan Ritzenhein finished second in 2:11.06 and Brian Sell was third in 2:11.40 to also earn Olympic berths.

``Ryan was doing what he loved to do at the time,'' Ritzenheim said today in a televised interview. ``He was the kind of guy that would like us to celebrate his life rather than mourn his death.''

The Olympic qualifier was held in conjunction with the New York City Marathon, which was run today. Prior to today's race, Mary Wittenberg, president and chief executive officer of the New York Road Runners, the club organizing both events, held a moment of silence for Shay at the Staten Island starting line.

Martin Lel of Kenya and Paula Radcliffe of the U.K. both won the New York City Marathon for the second time today, using last-mile surges to pull away from their nearest competitors.

A 35-year-old man died while running last month in the Chicago Marathon, which began with temperatures as high as 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius). The temperature in New York yesterday morning was 47 degrees, according to the National Weather Service's Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at