Coordination of Medical Coverage for Endurance Sporting Events

Abstract

Endurance sporting events have become increasingly popular in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. These events include a variety of sports such as distance running, swimming, cycling, multisport events, and winter sports such as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. A mass-participation endurance sporting event can be loosely defined as any endurance competition that has the potential to generate a significant number of casualties due to the large number of participants or the potential injury risk (Williams O. Roberts. Mass participation endurance events. In: Francis O’Connor, ed. Netter’s Sports Medicine. 1st ed:765–772, n.d; Sedgwick et al. Wilderness Environ Med. 26:47–54, 2015).Event medical operations are responsible for maintaining athlete safety at the event. There are three general phases to planning of the endurance event: planning/preparation, implementation/operational, and post-event phases. The type and length of the event as well as the weather are important to consider when planning appropriate medical operations as well as public health issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic. With appropriate preparations, event medical operations can provide the highest level of safety possible for participants while being prepared for medical illnesses and injuries that do occur.