New York Giants coach John Harbaugh began his media availability Wednesday with a tribute to Rachel Apa, the 24-year-old runner who died after collapsing during Sunday’s New York City Marathon.
Before taking questions, Harbaugh spoke on behalf of the team and offered condolences to Apa’s family.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Rachel Apa,” he said. “I can’t imagine the pain they’re feeling, along with the pride they must have in a life so well lived. Reading about the kind of person she was is incredible. She’ll be deeply missed.”
Harbaugh added that the Giants were thinking of Apa’s family and said, “She’s in God’s hands now.”
A former Division I field hockey player at Bucknell University, Apa was a graduate student at Charleston Southern. She was running her first marathon to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research in honor of her late grandfather. She collapsed in Central Park near mile 24, about two miles from the finish.
Spectators and race medical staff performed CPR, but Apa died hours later at Mount Sinai Hospital. Her family said doctors identified rhabdomyolysis, a serious breakdown of muscle tissue. Medical examiners are still working to determine the official cause of death.
Since the race, teammates, coaches and runners across the country have remembered Apa not for the miles she didn’t get to complete, but for the reason she started: to help others.
Bucknell and Charleston Southern have paid tribute to Apa, whose motivation was rooted in her love for her family. Her relatives have also established the Rachel Apa Foundation to continue her efforts to support others and promote runner health and medical safety.
