Peachtree cardiac arrest runner 'doing fine' a day after

ATLANTA -- Ask anyone who ran Monday's AJC Peachtree Road Race: it was a scorcher.

The hot weather meant Grady Hospital EMT's transporting more than twice as many patients as usual from the race. The scariest case? A man that had cardiac arrest just short of the finish line.

On the corner of 10th and Piedmont, one of the more active corners of an always-active course track, a middle-aged man collapsed on the street at 10:30 in the morning.

"The bike medic was there within a minute," said Michael Colman, operations manager for Grady EMS.

The bike medics are a group of Grady Hospital EMTs who volunteer to help during the race. They carry all the necessary emergency equipment and, in a packed race like the Peachtree, often get to spots faster than an ambulance.

Said Colman, "It really helps us to be able to basically get a mini-ambulance to the patient."

This patient was having cardiac arrest. Within minutes, medics brought out a defibrillator and attempted to revive him.

It worked.

"The entire crowd started cheering," said runner Ryan Watton, who witnessed the whole thing. "He was put on the stretcher; he raised his arms just to let everyone know, 'I'm OK'."

At 11Alive News we received numerous responses from eyewitnesses and concerned residents who wanted to know if the man who collapsed was still OK. Good news: he is. According to race officials, he was undergoing tests early Tuesday but was "doing fine."