Rachel Apa, a first-time New York City Marathon runner in “perfect health,” died Sunday two miles short of the finish line.
The 24-year-old Pennsylvanian, who played Division I field hockey at Bucknell University until 2023, texted “Ow ow” to her father Steve Apa when she was at mile 19, before collapsing at mile 24, according toThe New York Times.
Spectators ran to help Apa at around 1:33 p.m, including two doctors who administered CPR, seven minutes before medical crews arrived with a defibrillator and she was taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai Medical Center at 1:50 p.m. Apa was declared dead at around 9:40 p.m, her father told The Times. He said his daughter had suffered a rare muscle condition brought on by exertion known as rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis, also referred to as “rhabdo,” occurs when muscles break down and can poison the body.
Apa and her father had been texting the entire race as her parents tracked her using the race’s tracking app. Her father had repeatedly told her not to “overdo it,” but near the nine-mile mark, Apa had said she’d “never felt this good,” NBC News reported. At mile 24, Steve and his wife Michelle noticed their daughter’s tracker wasn’t moving and Michelle, who was the only one there, went over to the area and shouted her daughter’s name before an EMS worker took her to the hospital. “It’s unfathomable,” Steve Apa said. “Perfect health, perfect shape, 24 years old.”
Marathon deaths are rare with about 1 fatality in every 500,000 runners due to cardiac events, Emory School of Medicine research found. While dozens of runners have been treated for rhabdo during the NYC Marathon, according to a 2022 study, there appears to be no data on deaths during marathons from the condition.
The Lewisberry native, who graduated magna cum laude in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in markets, innovation and design, worked as a product manager at TE Connectivity, an electrical component company. She had also begun an M.B.A program at Charleston Southern University and had been training for the marathon for months.
She was fundraising for the Parkinson’s Foundation in honor of her grandfather, collecting $7,656.68, well over her $4,000 goal.
“My grandfather was one of my role models growing up. He taught me to stay active, push my limits, and embrace challenges. After he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, I watched as it slowly took away the freedom to move that he once loved,” she wrote on LinkedIn earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the New York Road Runners, which organizes the marathon, said the non-profit was “deeply saddened” by the death.
“Our thoughts and sincere sympathies are with the runner’s family, friends, and the entire running community,” the spokesperson told The Times.
A spokesperson for Bucknell University told The Independent the school extends its deepest sympathy to Apa’s family and friends, noting that she was a “key contributor” to the school’s field hockey team who earned Academic All-Patriot League honors and scored 17 goals during her collegiate career.
"The Bucknell community mourns her loss and extends its heartfelt condolences to all who knew and loved her," Mike Ferlazzo, the school's Director of Media Relations, said.
“Rachel’s passing is incredibly difficult, and our deepest condolences are with her family and friends,” TE Connectivity also told The Independent in an email.
The Independent’s requests for comment from Steve Apa, New York Road Runners, the FDNY and NYPD were not immediately returned.
Apa’s death marks the first tied to the New York City Marathon since 2024. That year, an unidentified 24-year-old man fell to his death after trying to watch the runners from his Brooklyn apartment’s window, according to the New York Daily News.
While the risk of dying from cardiac arrest during long-distance running races has decreased by half since the early 2000s, research shows rhabdomyolysis is much more uncommon.
About 1 in 500,000 runners die during marathons from cardiac events, according to an Emory School of Medicine study published in 2025.
About 26,000 people in the U.S. develop rhabdo each year and runners are at a higher risk, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
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