Police investigate as nearly 30 Santa Barbara half-marathon runners fall ill with ‘unusual symptoms’

Police in southern California are investigating the circumstances that led to the hospitalization of nearly 30 runners who participated in the Santa Barbara Half on Sunday.

Santa Barbara police said in a statement to the Associated Press that they had opened an investigation after receiving reports from Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital about multiple half-marathon participants seeking medical treatment for “unusual symptoms”.

Cottage Health said in a statement it had a “larger than expected number of emergency visits … a number of them with similar symptoms of undetermined cause”.

Race organizers say they believe any illness is attributable to heat or dehydration. The high on the day of the race was 88F (31.1C), an unusually high temperature for this time of year.

Neither the hospital nor police have detailed the symptoms beyond calling them unusual. Cottage Health said on Monday that 27 participants came to emergency rooms in Santa Barbara and Goleta, a small city about 10 miles west.

More than 4,640 people competed in the half-marathon, which spanned about 13 miles, according to the Santa Barbara Half Marathon website.

Of those who were either taken to the hospital or arrived there on their own, 24 patients had been treated and discharged as of Monday morning. The three others were in stable condition, the company told the Associated Press.

Event director David Monico said organizers transported 15 people from the medical tent to local hospitals. He said the event’s medical team treated numerous runners for dehydration and overheating both on the course and at the finish line.

The half-marathon’s event director, David Monico told the Guardian that they have “no additional information to suggest that the issues some of the participants experienced were caused by anything other than endurance event exertion-related symptoms”.