Runner dies during half marathon in Minneapolis after health providers in race try to save him

With her sister at her side, Madison Styrlund was in the home stretch of the City of Lakes Half Marathon on Sunday morning in Minneapolis when she noticed a fellow runner struggling. She asked whether he was OK, and he shrugged it off, apparently determined to run through it.

Moments later, Styrlund saw him stumble and collapse to the pavement, striking his head. Styrlund, a health care provider, and other medical professionals in the race rushed to his aid before he was taken to the hospital, where he later died. Blake Joseph Groulx was 27.

Groulx, was stricken while competing in the annual race around Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Groulx fell along W. Bde Maka Ska Parkway just south of W. Lake Street, according to Park Board police records. Race participants alerted a police officer at a road closure and said they saw Groulx lose his footing “and hit his head on the curb,” a park police report read.

An ambulance took Groulx to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, said the examiner’s office, which has yet to disclose a cause of death.

The 13.1-mile race, which began more than 60 years ago, is sponsored by the nonprofit Run Minnesota.

“On a day meant to be a celebration, a family lost a loved one,” said Sarah Ahlers McInerney, Run Minnesota’s executive director. “Our hearts go out to the runner’s family and all those who were close to them.”

McInerney added that her organization wants “to express our heartfelt gratitude to the participants on the course who came to the aid of a fellow runner, the first responders, and the medical professionals who provided medical care. We also send our care to the running community as we grieve this loss together.”

Styrlund, a physician assistant, said Monday that she was running with her sister when “we noticed this guy stumbling,” prompting them to ask whether he was OK.

“He just kind of shook it off and started running again,” said Styrlund, who works for Twin Cities Orthopedics and lives in Eden Prairie.

Styrlund, 27, said she and her sister soon passed him, “and we kept an eye on him over our shoulder ... then he passed us and started sprinting past us like he was pushing past the pain.”

She asked Groulx whether he needed water and should sit down. He said yes, before he “stumbled again and went face-down into the curb,” Styrlund said.

Styrlund said she went up to Groulx, as did an intensive care nurse, and they saw he was struggling to breathe. They checked for a pulse and found none.

Runner Dr. Katherine Katzung, who works in the emergency department at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, also stopped to help.

Katzung, 45, said she “saw it was all chaotic” at first, then she coordinated and joined about five others in taking turns administering CPR to Groulx.

“We were trying to give him the best chance of survival,” Katzung said. “He looked like a fit person, not somebody you would think this would happen to.”

Katzung said her husband, who was also in the race and is not a health care professional, looked up the fallen runner’s bib number online and found Groulx’s name, which was given to responding paramedics. Katzung then notified her hospital to prepare for Groulx’s arrival.

Styrlund and Katzung both said there was not a second of hesitation about interrupting their pursuit of the finish line.

“I knew I had to stop,” said Styrlund, who didn’t find out until Monday afternoon that Groulx had died. “I’ve had medical training. I know how to triage somebody. There was not a question about it that I couldn’t not stop.”

Katzung, a doctor for the past 15 years, said she and all the others who treated Groulx “are trained to do this. This is what I do. ... I was amazed at the number of health care providers who helped out.”