Runner dies after half-marathon in Southern California heat

A man died after collapsing during a Southern California half-marathon on a day when the temperatures reached triple digits.

Spencer Cabral, 38, of Camarillo, was one of four participants in Saturday’s Boney Mountain Trail Run who required medical attention, the Ventura County Fire Department said. He was airlifted to a hospital in Thousand Oaks, where he died, according to the county medical examiner. A cause of death was not released.

A heat advisory had been issued Saturday, May 10, by the National Weather Service for a wide swath of Southern California, including the area of the race. Temperatures that day reached 100 in nearby Moorpark and were in the 90s for much of southern Ventura County.

The Boney Mountain race offered 4.4- and 13.1-mile courses on trails in the hills above the Conejo Valley. The longer race, a half-marathon, started at 8 a.m.; around 11 a.m. emergency crews were called for people reportedly suffering heat-related issues.

The fire department did not release details of Cabral’s case. He wasn’t listed on the race’s results page, which showed 117 finishers in the half-marathon and 21 who didn’t finish the race.

A Facebook post by a person who identified herself as Cabral’s wife said he collapsed on the course, short of the finish line. He was the father of four, she said.

The Boney Mountain Trail Run, overseen by race organizer SoCalTrail, was originally scheduled for February but was moved to May because of poor trail conditions caused by rain.

During a Southern California heat wave last September, a 35-year-old runner died of cardiac arrest after crossing the finish line at a Disneyland half-marathon. Though that race started at 5 a.m., he had expressed concerns about the heat.