Rachel Apa, 24, Dies After Collapsing at the New York City Marathon

Rachel Apa, a 24-year-old athlete and first-time marathon runner, died on Sunday after she collapsed during the New York City Marathon. She had been running to raise awareness and money for Parkinson's disease, in memory of her grandfather. Doctors later said she died from a rare condition that caused her muscles to break down. Her death shocked her family, friends, and the entire running community.

Apa was a former college field hockey player who had just graduated from Bucknell University in 2024 with a degree in business. She had played on the team for four years, scoring 17 goals and helping her team in 63 games total. After college, she worked as a product manager and was also studying for a graduate business degree in South Carolina. She was known by those close to her as someone who loved being active and pushing herself to new limits.

She signed up to run the marathon earlier this year as part of a team called Parkinson's Champions. On the team's fundraising page, she wrote about why the cause meant so much to her. She said that watching Parkinson's disease slowly take away her grandfather's ability to move was painful, and that his lessons continued to drive her forward even after he passed away in 2022.

On the day of the race, Apa's mother and some friends went with her to cheer her on. Her father, Steve Apa, stayed home in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, and tracked her progress using a phone app. He texted back and forth with his daughter as she ran, and several miles in, she sent him messages saying she felt amazing and had never felt so good.

Around the 14-mile mark, Apa's mother filmed a short video of her daughter smiling and waving as she ran past. But a few miles later, Steve Apa started getting texts from his daughter that said things like 'ugh' and 'ow.' He stopped hearing from her around miles 20 or 21, though the tracking app showed she was still moving — until her location stopped at mile 24.

New York City police officers spotted Apa having a medical emergency near mile marker 24 at about 1:40 in the afternoon. A bystander nearby began performing CPR right away to help keep her alive until medical staff arrived. Emergency workers continued CPR and also used a defibrillator, which is a device that sends an electric shock to try to restart the heart. She was rushed to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where doctors worked to save her life for more than six hours.

Apa's mother rushed to mile 24 after learning something was wrong, and then got a ride to the hospital in a second ambulance. Despite the best efforts of doctors and medical staff, Rachel Apa was declared dead at around 9:40 that night. Her father said he had been tracking her the whole time, never imagining the race would end this way.

Doctors told the family that Apa had died from a condition called rhabdomyolysis. This is a rare illness in which muscle cells break down and release a harmful substance into the blood, which can cause the kidneys to stop working properly. The Mayo Clinic notes that marathon runners can be at risk for this condition, though it is not fully understood why some runners are affected and others are not.

The group that runs the New York City Marathon, called New York Road Runners, expressed its sadness in a public statement. Officials noted that the last time a marathon participant died after a medical incident during the race was in 2024. The running community mourned the loss of a young woman who was simply trying to honor someone she loved.