The Zurich Marató de Barcelona ended in tragedy this past Sunday after an unidentified man reportedly died after suffering a heart attack.
ESPN reports that the 47-year-old man died shortly after arriving at Barcelona's Clinic Hospital, after running the race.
Event officials released a brief press statement on their webpage to confirm the news, and further explain the cause of death.
"The organization regrets to inform that the Catalan runner X.J., 45 years old, resident of Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), has passed away at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona due to cardiac arrest," reads the statement.
"The Catalan athlete who had completed the test in a time of 4:05:10 and participated through the AESE Running Club, was an expert popular runner. X.J. fainted after crossing the finish line of the Zurich Marató de Barcelona, being treated immediately by the unit of the Barcelona Red Cross. He was later transferred to the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, where he died later," adds the same.
This marks the second death of an athlete this month after taking part in a marathon event. In Tel Aviv, an Israeli soldier running in the marathon died of heat stroke.
In January this year, another case made headlines all over the world, that of female athlete who had taken part in the London marathon and died of what coroners later established was a drug overdose: the 30-year-old woman had taken over-the-counter supplements that contained the chemical compound DMAA, which killed her.
