Follow-up on OC Marathon Story

On Sunday morning I posted an item regarding what sounded like a fatality at the OC Marathon.  My reporting was based on the radio communications I monitored from the fire department that was handling the race medical duties.  When I didn't see the story in the local paper's website I was hoping that maybe I'd been wrong and Hoag Hospital had managed to pull him back from the brink.

Sadly, that was not the case.  The story finally appeared late Monday night:

An Aliso Viejo man running the 13.1-mile O.C. half marathon died roughly an hour after collapsing near the finish line in Costa Mesa.

Geoffrey Jonathan Chao died about 9:35 a.m. Sunday, according to the Orange County Coroner's Office. He was 46 years old.

The Costa Mesa Fire Department responded to a call from the O.C. Marathon at 8:47 a.m. to transport a runner in cardiac arrest to Hoag Hospital. The Coroner's Office could only say that Chao is listed as having died of natural causes.

Chao collapsed across from the VIP tent, less than 100 yards from the finish line, said Holly Hoch, who was waiting in the VIP tent for her husband to finish the half marathon. A bystander jumped a fence and held Chao's head off the ground until the fire department arrived, Hoch said.

Chao was married with three children, said Shaun Robinson, general manager of the Costa Mesa Hilton, where Chao was a director of events. He had worked at the Hilton for seven years and was a popular employee.

"(Chao) was one of the most positive people of great character that I have ever been associated with," Robinson said.

He loved competing in all sports and athletic activities, and was a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

Chao is survived by his wife, Heather, and three young children, Ava, Max, and Eli, Robinson said.

In lieu of flowers, the hotel is setting up a college fund for his children, Robinson said in an e-mail to staff on Monday.