Rachel Apa’s father has revealed the final text messages his daughter sent before collapsing at mile 24 of the New York City Marathon.
Steve Apa said that Rachel, 24, had been messaging her parents throughout Sunday’s race from her Pennsylvania home base. At Mile 18, she texted her father a single word: “Ow.” The message that followed at Mile 19 doubled the distress: “Ow, Ow.” Steve, who had been tracking his daughter’s progress on an app alongside his wife Michelle, responded with encouragement at Mile 23, telling her it was the “final stretch.” She never replied.
Michelle Apa had recorded Rachel passing Mile 14, a routine milestone for a first-time marathoner who her father said was in “perfect health and perfect shape.” The Pennsylvania native was running to raise money for the Parkinson’s Foundation’s Champions team, honoring a grandfather she had lost four years earlier. In her fundraiser, she called him her “role model growing up” and credited him with teaching her to “push limits” and shaping her love for “sports and movement.”
The last exchange came shortly before a spectator who worked at a hospital rushed to Rachel’s aid in Central Park and administered CPR. Medical staff arrived with a defibrillator, but Rachel died at 9:40 p.m. At a hospital, her father told the Times. Steve Apa said the cause was rhabdomyolysis, a rare life-threatening condition in which muscles break down, which according to the Cleveland Clinic can occur after excessive exercise without rest or injury.
The New York Road Runners, which organizes the race, issued a statement following the death: “We are deeply saddened by the death of one of our runners following yesterday’s race.”
“Our thoughts and sincere sympathies are with the runner’s family, friends, and the entire running community,” the organization continued.
Rachel was a student at Charleston Southern University. Her father described her death as “unfathomable.”
The New York Marathon has been held annually since 1970. This year’s race set a record with 61,146 finishers, the first time the event has exceeded 60,000. Rachel Apa is the first person to die from a medical incident at the marathon since 2024.
The New York City Marathon course winds through all five boroughs before entering Central Park for its final miles, where spectators line the route to cheer finishers toward the line at Tavern on the Green. Rachel collapsed two miles short of that endpoint, her mother’s realization that she had stopped moving on the tracking app prompting Michelle to dash into the park.