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33-Year-Old Man Found Dead After Finishing Race

http://mainichi.jp/articles/20170131/k00/00m/040/052000c

translated by Brett Larner

The organizers of a road race in Ibara, Okayama announced on Jan. 30 that a 33-year-old man had died after finishing the Jan. 29 event's 10 km race.  The man was found in a post-race relaxation area during the final sweep after participants had all left.  More than an hour had elapsed since the man had finished the race, but nobody had reported anything about him.

According to the local Board of Education, a total of 957 people from both inside and outside the prefecture took part in the 10 km, 5 km and 3 km events at the 35th Hoshinosato Fureai Health Road Race.  The man started the 10 km at 10:20 a.m., finishing at 11:38 a.m.  After finishing he is believed to have entered the nearby B&G Nebuta Ocean Center gymnasium where participants' bags were stored and where there were change rooms and space to relax.

Roughly 1 hour 15 minutes after the man finished, while performing a sweep of the post-race area an employee at the Center found him lying on the floor using his bag as a pillow.  The man was already in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest, and after being taken to a hospital he was pronounced dead.  There were no partitions or other barriers in the gymnasium blocking the view of the man's location, but all other participants were said to have already gone home when his body was found.  There were no noticeable indications of external trauma to the man's body, and Okayama prefectural police are continuing to investigate the cause of his death.

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