Valencia Marathon announces its medical and health service

The Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso EDP, organised by SD Correcaminos and Valencia City Council, will have a large medical and health service to cover the 16,000 runners who will take part on 5 December.

Once again this year, the race will have a team of medical professionals at the race made up of 35 medical professionals (22 of whom are anaesthesiologists and resuscitation specialists), 20 nurses, 20 ambulances, two field hospitals and rapid assistance points, in wide ranging race measures involving the Valencia Red Cross and coordinated by Luis Cort, the race’s medical director.

Attention during the race

In addition, this service will have nine doctors among the participants running the race in different time slots and there will also be five first-aiders on skates with defibrillators to quickly attend to any emergency that may occur along the 42,195 metres. The defibrillators are provided in collaboration with B+SAFE through Proyecto+Vida with the intention of improving cardioprotection in sport and publicising the importance of installing AEDs in public spaces.

For Luis Cort, the medical director of the marathon, this service “reinforces the safety and care of runners, allowing us to act in case of any emergency in the shortest possible time and with the aim of minimising the risk to participants”.

Rapid assistance points with Farmacia Ribera

For the fifth consecutive year, Farmacia Ribera, an official event supplier, will be present before, during and after the Valencia Marathon. It will distribute 16,500 Vaseline samples in the runner’s bag for those registered and more than 16,500 FFP2 masks will be provided in the post-race area.

The Farmacia Ribera team will also, once again this year, have six Rapid Assistance Points distributed along the 42-kilometre course and count on the help of two bicycles, which they will use to provide analgesic spray and Vaseline to runners who request it without having to slow down their running pace. In addition to providing the race with all the materials and help at the Rapid Assistance Points, they will provide all the health materials for medical use and for the organisers during the race.

Medical and safety measures

In addition to the medical and health service, the race will also instigate a series of measures that will start at the Valencia Runners’ Expo, located in the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, which runners will have to visit wearing masks and in small groups when collecting their bib, wristband and runner’s bag.

Similarly, the volunteers who will be at the refreshment points in the streets of the city of running will also follow these preventive measures, which include the obligatory use of masks and gloves.

CPR training for volunteers 

This week, around 400 volunteers for the Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso EDP have received training in basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid at the Vithas Valencia 9 de Octubre Hospital.

Qualified Vithas staff have given theoretical and practical classroom sessions over four days to continue training the volunteers known as the #VithasVolunteers whose work is so important both on the day of the races and in the days leading up to them. The aim is to ensure they can provide the best possible care to runners in an emergency situation and are as well trained as possible in life support techniques.