From PR attempt to heat stroke

Jeffrey had trained for no less than eight months for the Dam tot Damloop. 'I mostly ran 10 km twice a week. The last two months I expanded this further to 12 km and also ran 14 km several times,' Jeffrey looks back. Even during his holidays in France, he continues to train to get used to higher temperatures. An active footballer with a good basic condition and a long preparation. He feels fit when he is at the start. 'I had heard of the term heatstroke, but I didn't know that much about it. I did think the risk would be much higher in warmer temperatures. Since the weather conditions were good, I was confident I could run my PR'.

Jeffrey's race starts promising. But it soon becomes clear that he started too fast. 'The first 5 km I actually started too fast, as it turned out afterwards. I was able to maintain this pace reasonably well towards the 10 km. After that, I did start to get harder and harder.' On his watch, he sees that he is still on track to break his PR. He continues running, but notices at kilometre 13 that things are far from smooth and he is struggling. 'I thought to myself: 'another 3 km, then I can catch my breath again'. At the 15 km point, I greeted my wife and children with a high five and had to push on for another kilometer'.

In the last 500 metres before the finish on the Peperstraat, things go wrong. Jeffrey makes it to the finish, but does not consciously experience this himself. 'I received my finish video via e-mail the next day. This was proof for me that I crossed the finish line. Very bizarre'. His rescue comes thanks to an observant friend who quickly realises something is wrong after the finish. Jeffrey says: 'He soon realised things were not going well. He did not hesitate for a moment and immediately called in someone from the medical team'.

The Red Cross medical team immediately realised it was heatstroke. Jeffrey's clothes are ripped off his body and he is placed in a cooling bath as soon as possible. 'After two minutes in the cooling bath, I woke up like someone waking up from sleep. I was lucid right away though and remembered everything until the moment just before the finish line.' After 20 minutes in the cooling bath, Jeffrey's body temperature returned to normal. 'The peak of my temperature was over 42.5 degrees in the cooling bath. I was really incredibly lucky and I am grateful for the quick action of my friend and the medical team. I realise this could have ended very differently.' After the cooling bath, Jeffrey spent another three hours in hospital for recovery and tests. He was fortunately allowed to return home the same evening.

Despite being familiar with the term heat stroke, Jeffrey did not realise during his race that he had contracted one himself. 'For the last few kilometres, I was just trying to get to the finish line. I was struggling tremendously and was really exhausted, but thought to myself at the finish I can catch my breath again. Afterwards, there were definitely some signs in the last kilometre in particular that indicated heat stroke, but I didn't realise that at all during the run. I was purely concerned with finishing the race,' he says.

Jeffrey wants to urge all participants in the Dam tot Damloop to really prepare as well as possible. 'There is a lot of information these days with plenty of tips. I have not always read through these fully myself, but I would really advise everyone to do so. In addition, it is important to listen to your body during the race. Take a step back if you really can't do it anymore.'

He notices in his environment that the term heat stroke is often still unknown. Also among runners. 'Heat stroke is often underestimated and people are not sufficiently aware of the life-threatening situation that can occur. It is not only important to read up on this as a runner. It is also important for bystanders to spot and act on heatstroke as soon as possible. Every minute counts'.