Ambulances were called on 50 occasions during Dam tot Damloop on Sunday 

Ambulances were called 50 times for participants of the Dam tot Damloop who had become unwell, deputy director René Wit of organizer Le Champion said on Monday. That is above average for the running event, according to Wit. The last group of runners could not start the event due to the pressure on the emergency services because medical care could not be guaranteed for them. Wit reported that there were no capacity problems at the first aid posts or in the number of volunteers at the Red Cross.

Wit added that the people who had been brought to the hospital were conscious, and nobody was seriously injured. Le Champion is still assessing to what extent the runners who became unwell had prepared for, for example, the warm weather or had not trained for running the 10-mile (16.1 kilometers) distance.

Wit finds it hard to say how well prepared the runners were for the Dam tot Damloop. “At every running event, you have trained and untrained runners. This is not exclusively in the Dam tot Damloop, or a competition in September, or a 10-mile run. We did the maximum to inform people; we called out during the start and on the route and also gave information via LED screens. Technologically, we can change things, but it is mainly about awareness among the participants.”

Around 4,500 of the 46,000 runners could not start. Le Champion is still investigating how they can be compensated, for example, with a starting spot for next year. More will be announced during the week.