‘I wish spectators were a little farther from the street'
A Manitoba Marathon race participant was attacked by a spectator's dog while running the half marathon on Sunday morning.
Brendan Scott, a 28-year-old dental student at the University of Manitoba, was around the seven-and-a-half-kilometre mark of the race on Dunkirk Street, about to turn onto Kingston Row, when he was bitten by a dog who jumped out from the spectators watching on the sidewalk, inflicting two puncture wounds.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Brendan Scott, a 28-year-old University of Manitoba dental student, has some bruising on his arm and a small cut, after a dog bit him while he was running the half marathon on Sunday.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Brendan Scott, a 28-year-old University of Manitoba dental student, has some bruising on his arm and a small cut, after a dog bit him while he was running the half marathon on Sunday.
'Most of the half marathon up until the halfway points are pretty packed with runners,' said Scott. 'So I was trying to get a good time, and I'm weaving between people. At points a lot of runners are up against the sidewalk there where the spectators are. So nothing unusual for me or anyone. But running along the spectators, just trying to pass people, I guess I got a little close. Again, to me, nothing out of the ordinary, I see a lot of people running along close to the sidewalk.'
'But I just felt almost like a bang on my elbow. And at first, I just thought, like maybe I'd hit someone that had peeked out from the sidewalk, or even a traffic cone, I was really confused, but I looked back to see a dog owner pulling back the dog.'
Scott said with the adrenaline rush of the race, he wanted to keep going and, at first, didn't see that there was broken skin.
After finishing the half marathon with a time of 1:57:04, Scott realized there were two fang marks which had drawn some blood and started to bruise.
'I think a big problem with the marathon is just, I guess the amount of congestion there is for the first half of both the full marathon and the half marathon… So I'd like to see just even the marathon do a better job at making us go at different times.'– Brendan Scott
'I actually ended running the exact same time as last year, so a little disappointed that it wasn't a better time that I wanted,' said Scott. 'Honestly, yeah, it was just at points during the race that I was thinking, like, 'oh, I should really — I need to check this bite out after I finish running, like, properly.' But you know, couldn't really look fully down on my elbow while running.'
He immediately attended the marathon's first aid station at the finish line inside Princess Auto Stadium before seeking medical attention at urgent care at Victoria General Hospital.
'I think the whole experience is just more shocking if anything,' said Scott. 'Just where I got the tetanus shot hurts the most. I can't really lift up my arm, but the dog bite itself is just a little bruise, nothing I can fully complain about. I just think the whole, again, experience was a little shocking and I didn't enjoy having to spend my Sunday in the hospital trying to figure out what to do about it.'
Scott reported the incident to the City of Winnipeg and also hopes to see some changes made in upcoming marathons.
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'I wish spectators were a little farther from the street to allow runners to run by unopposed,' said Scott. 'Because I think it's a lot of people running the half and the full marathon, and it does get crowded, that people are running at different paces, and at times they have to go to the outskirts, and it's not uncommon.'
The Manitoba Marathon had a record number of people run the full marathon this year, just shy of 1,300. Approximately 12,500 runners took part in the event, which offered a variety of race options including a 5K, 10K, half marathon, relay, and the full marathon.
'I think a big problem with the marathon is just, I guess the amount of congestion there is for the first half of both the full marathon and the half marathon, where there's a ton of runners running, and there's often just what feels like people colliding into each other or not being able to run at their proper pace. So I'd like to see just even the marathon do a better job at making us go at different times,' said Scott.
Organizers of the Manitoba Marathon were contacted for comment but did not respond by press time.
zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca
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