CEBU CITY, Aug 10 (PNA) — Canadian national Anthony Dean Borg suddenly collapsed while running the 12-kilometer route of the R399 Fun Run Sunday at the Cebu Business Park in Cebu City.
Paramedics from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) team rushed him to the Perpetual Succor Hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival. He was 52.
Borg, a former sales representative, joined the recently concluded 70K race in Cebu.
The longest distance he ran was 106K.
Borg has been residing in the country since 2011 and decided to relocate to Cebu lastJuly.
He also got married to his partner of nine years, Mary Jean, just last year.
Race director Joel Baring of Sports Fitness and Enthusiasts said he was monitoring the different areas of the route when Borg collapsed.
The nearest person to Borg was Dr. Jasmine Orlanes, who tried to revive him.
“Most of my marshals saw Borg taking pictures before the race and the other runners saw him running fast. He collapsed in the first 2K of the route; we did not expect it will happen because it’s a non-competitive race and was just inside the Cebu Business Park,” said Baring.
The R399 Fun Run, which started last 2013, is dedicated to Ramie Igaña Jr., a runner and triathlete who died due to pulmonary embolism while cycling the 90-kilometer bike course of the 2012 Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines.
R399 was the bib number of Igaña.
The race Sunday, which was joined by more than 1,000 runners, was for the benefit of the Little Lamb Center Missionaries of the Poor in Sawang Calero, Cebu City.
Borg, in a comment on an article posted online dated Aug. 4, 2015 regarding the effects of an ultramarathon on the heart of runners who are 50 or older, said “I would prefer to die running an ultramarathon than sitting on the sofa worrying about things that will kill me.”
He loved the sport but sadly, what he said became reality. (PNA)