Runner in hospital following Colorado Springs Labor Day Orangetheory 5K
Mackenzie Stafford
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Adam Rich is being treated in the hospital after being hit by a biker on Sunday, Aug. 31, amid the Labor Day Orangetheory 5K, according to his family.
“I went down to Memorial Park to do the Orangetheory 5K and kind of ran the course as a warm-up, and I had some concerns about the number of people that were there. I ended up going out on the perimeter roads of Memorial Park because I was concerned enough about just the sheer number of people that were there. And kind of wondering, you know, how is this going to work with a road race going on?” questioned Adam Rich.
He says he felt uneasy from the start. Rich tells KRDO13 that past races he’s participated in are typically coned off or have a separate course for runners away from any major events.
“About 30 seconds in the lead, the biker clipped a lady. She was walking almost on the sidewalk, and he clipped her and went down with his bike and almost took, you know, five or 6 or 7 of us out, just not even 30 seconds into the race,” recounted Rich.
He says he continued running when, later on, he saw what he describes as the large e-bike, heading back to the front of the runners.
“It was pandemonium. Chaos, really. You know, he would…try to get people to move out of the way. They wouldn’t, then he’d slam on the brakes to the point where I’d almost run into him,” Rich continued, “He came down the road and I don’t know if somebody veered over or what, but he came over into me, clipped me, which caused me with how much momentum I had. It’s kind of like I had my steps and I didn’t have my steps and my, my body, just like my feet came out from under me, which sent me straight down.”
Rich says he fell, and the side of his body landed square on a curb. He says the impact was so significant that it tore his brand-new shoes open.
Adam Rich
After lying there for a few moments, he was sent to the hospital, where they held him overnight to monitor for potential internal bleeding. He says that out of the hundreds of races he has participated in, this was likely the least safe.
“I think this potentially sheds light that some of these e-bikes are probably not, you know, designed for these particular events where you just have a massive amount of people…when you’re jamming on the brakes on those things, it locks them up and then…you’re hitting people or you’re taking out people behind you, or your bike itself is just so big that when you even graze somebody at all, it sends them straight down,” expressed Rich.
He hopes his injury will be a sticking point for people behind organized races to reconsider the course, use of electronic bikes, and perhaps put more protections in place.
“We all understand…we want to promote Labor Day and really build the balloon festival. But I think you just can’t put an event on where you’ve got six figures of attendees. You just can’t unless you’re going to do the event on closed roads, like where you were using Hancock and I think Vermont areas…[where]…you don’t have…people that are walking back to their cars that are on a racecourse that…they don’t understand what’s going on there…if they’re going to continue doing it from this point on, I think they have to reevaluate. You know, should we be using Memorial Park at the same time as the Balloon Festival?” pondered Adam Rich.
Organizers for the race, Colorado Springs Sports Corp, say they are aware of the incident.
For the privacy of the participants and all involved, we will not be providing further comment at this time. Thank you for your understanding and respect on this.
– Megan Leatham, CEO and President of Colorado Springs Sports Corp
Colorado Springs Police tell us they are aware of the incident and that a police report has been filed. Police say they will not be investigating further as it appears to be an accident with no criminal intent. They did confirm the person riding the e-bike lost control and hit two people during the event.