Experienced Ultra-Runner Was Three Miles From Finish When He Died During Mount Diablo Race

A 63-year-old veteran ultra-runner was only three miles from the finish line when he died during a 50-kilometer race on Mount Diablo on Sunday.

Rene Brunet of San Francisco had been checked by medical personnel at an aid station a few miles earlier and was given the clearance to continue.

"There was no indication at that point that there was any problem," said John Brooks, the race director of Pacific Coast Trail Runs, the association that organized the event.

Brooks said there were only three runners left on the course at that time. Other slower participants had been taken off the trails because they had not reached the course's aid stations in the required time.

The two runners who were behind Brunet finished at the Mitchell Canyon staging area on the Clayton side of the mountain.

When Brunet didn't show up, Brooks and some law enforcement officers went looking for him.

Brooks said they found a partially filled water bottle on the trail and then saw Brunet's body down an embankment along the Mitchell Canyon trail. That is a downhill, shaded portion of the course.

The Contra Costa County coroner's office has not yet determined the cause of death.

Brooks, who took over Pacific Coast Trail Runs last summer, said he believes it's the first death the association has suffered during one of its races.

On Sunday, there were three different races.

There was an 8-kilometer run that began at 9 a.m. Seventeen people finished that 4.8 mile race in times that varied between 45 minutes and an hour and a half.

At 8:45 a.m., the 25-kilometer race had begun. Forty-six people finished that 15-mile race in times that varied between 2 hours 40 minutes and 5 hours and 20 minutes.

The 50-kilometer race had begun at 8:30 a.m. Thirteen people finished that 30-mile trek in times that varied from five hours to nine hours.

The 25-kilometer route required competitors to run to the top of Mount Diablo and back to Mitchell Canyon. The 50-kilometer route required participants to do that loop twice.

There were aid stations at the Juniper camp and at the summit. The 50-kilometer runners were required to stop four times and be checked by medical personnel.

Brunet had run the Mount Diablo event in the past, Brooks said. Brunet had also competed in races that were longer than 30 miles.

Friends and family members told KTVU television that Brunet had been passionate about ultra-running ever since he retired from his job as a taxi cab driver in San Francisco.

As of midday Tuesday, there was no mention of the death on the Pacific Coast Trail Runs website, but the association's Facebook page paid homage to Brunet as did members who commented.
 
The association's next event is June 15 at Crissy Field in San Francisco. That race has participants running around a one-mile loop for either six hours or 12 hours.

Brooks said their association has the highest precautionary standards for their events, but they'll review their policies before the next event.