“First Half” Half Marathon, Cedar 12K Results & News
Congratulations to all who raced this morning in both the “First Half” Half Marathon in Vancouver and the Cedar 12k just south of Nanaimo. Racers at both events were blessed with terrific weather and great support. Results for both events are now available.
On a related note an article has been published in Monday’s Vancouver Sun on Ken Pungente, who while running in last year’s Cedar race suffered a heart attack. An excerpt from the article continues below:
Miracle man finishes his race
Canwest News Service, published: Monday, February 11, 2008
NANAIMO — Ken Pungente had angels on his heels when he suffered a heart attack while running a mini-marathon. The 64-year-old, soft-spoken plumber was rounding out the last section of the Island Race Series Cedar 12K run last year, when his heart stopped. Lying on the side of the road, face down, his vital signs were nearly non-existent.
Not far behind him were four highly skilled nurses and respiratory therapists from Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital, trained to revive patients such as Pungente.
The women worked to restart Pungente’s heart for 25 minutes before an ambulance arrived with a defibrillator to kick-start his life.
He was eventually airlifted to Royal Jubilee and later had quintuple-bypass surgery.
Yesterday, he was back in this year’s race, finishing in one hour and 11 minutes.
Those same four nurses greeted him with a bottle of champagne and many hugs.
“He’s literally a living, walking, running miracle,” said Dominica Sweet, one of those who helped revive him.
Pungente said he often thinks about being saved.
“There are just so many lingering questions,” he said. “Why were these four girls behind me in the race?”
