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Letter to the editor

Straggler a stranger, but club rushed to aid

By JON WILSON
Published May 4, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - April 24 brought a glorious Sunday for St. Anthony's Triathlon, packed with athletes enjoying a slightly cooler-than-usual day.

Action was winding down at one of the annual race's last water stops, a far-flung station on Snell Isle's Brightwaters Boulevard. A few determined stragglers plugged away, 3 miles from the downtown finish line.

Then, a sudden thing: the unmistakable slap of flesh hitting pavement.

"Man down!" yelled Mike Roe, part of St. Petersburg's Forerunners Track Club, whose members had been handing water and energy drinks to the racers for several hours.

Competitor Edward Kelly lay prone, his face in grass, his lower body in the street.

To him ran Roe, Joe Burgasser and Christy Phillips. Sue Fleshman wasn't far behind. They rolled Kelly face up. He was turning blue. Phillips put a finger on his carotid artery.

"No pulse!" she shouted. "No pulse!"

So began an intense few minutes in which club members performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth, struggling in vain to save Kelly.

The 61-year-old had traveled here alone to compete in the triathlon, a three-sport event that combines a 0.9-mile swim, a 24.8-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.

As Kelly lay on Brightwaters Boulevard, Burgasser began chest compressions. Forerunner Ken Barry called 911 on a cell phone.

Another competitor stopped running, saying she was a nurse practitioner. She started mouth-to-mouth while Roe elevated Kelly's feet and Phillips kept probing for a pulse.

Paramedics arrived and attempted to revive Kelly with a defibrillator. They took him to St. Anthony's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy showed Kelly had cardiovascular disease and died of cardiac arrest, said Bill Pellan, an investigator for the Pinellas County medical examiner. Those who saw Kelly described him as a big man, even rotund.

Kelly may have been the first to die during a St. Anthony's Triathlon, a fixture here since 1984. Steve Meckfessel, race director since 1992, said none occurred during his tenure, and other longtime observers don't recall any previous deaths.

It left many of the Forerunners shaken. Several fought back tears after paramedics left with Kelly.

A little girl, a club member's daughter, asked: "Is he going home now?"

"It was an emotional situation," said Burgasser, who said he was among those who wept.

"A bunch of people, all friends, suddenly required to try to save the life of someone. But somewhat detached by shock from deeper feelings since the victim was unknown, except that he was in essence a peer, a person trying to better himself though exercise," said Burgasser, who is the Forerunners' coach.

The competitor who stopped and performed mouth-to-mouth disappeared before anyone got her name, Burgasser said.

The Rev. Chris Thompson, rector at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church a few blocks away, was returning home from morning services. He happened upon the scene.

"He talked to just about all of us, asked us if we were okay, and did whatever he could," Burgasser said.

Meckfessel said the group "responded heroically and tirelessly and gave (Kelly) a 110 percent chance to be revived."

Said Meckfessel: "We certainly are saddened by this tragic event. We will certainly assess everything we have in place in terms of safety features. We feel we do the best job out there in sports, but if there's room for improvement, we'll find it."

Kelly, who traveled from Thorndale, Pa., was a dedicated runner often at the back of the pack. He did events of all distances, said his brother, Frank Kelly of Drexel Hill, Pa. He traveled to Ireland a few months ago to participate in the Dublin Marathon, taking the place of a relative who had died, his brother said.

A Rotary Club member, Edward Kelly had been in charge of his local club's dragon boat team, which races annually on Philadelphia's Schuylkill River. Last year, he helped a group of special-needs youngsters participate, said Rotarian Jack Hines.

Kelly was self-employed, making exhibits or displays for corporate customers, Hines said.

Frank Kelly expressed appreciation to race officials and to the people he didn't know who tried to help his brother.

Burgasser ended up with Edward Kelly's race number, 3425. Paramedics had torn it off and handed it to him. At first Burgasser said he didn't know what to do with it.

"I don't want to keep it. I don't want to throw it away," he said.

Frank Kelly said he'd like to hang on to his brother's last number. Burgasser is mailing it this week.

[Last modified May 4, 2005, 00:57:19]