New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh put football on hold during his media session Wednesday, paying tribute to Rachel Apa, the 24-year-old runner who collapsed and died during Sunday’s New York City Marathon.
Before taking a single question, Harbaugh addressed the tragedy directly on behalf of the entire Giants organization.
“First of all, I just want to express our thoughts and prayers to the family of Rachel Apa, a 24-year-old young athlete who passed away in the New York City Marathon this past weekend,” Harbaugh said.
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“I cannot imagine the pain that they’re going through and yet also the pride they feel for a life well lived. When you read about her life, it’s just incredible to read the type of person she was, and she’ll be really dearly missed.”
“She’s in God’s hands now, and we just want to let the family know that the New York Giants are thinking about their daughter and their family,” he added.
Apa, a former Division I field hockey standout at Bucknell University and a graduate student at Charleston Southern, was running her first 26.2-mile race to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research in memory of her late grandfather. She collapsed in Central Park near Mile 24, just two miles shy of the finish line.
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Spectators and race medics rushed to perform CPR, but she passed away hours later at Mount Sinai Hospital. Her family said doctors cited rhabdomyolysis, a severe and dangerous muscle breakdown. Medical examiners work to finalize the official cause.
In the days since the race, teammates, coaches and runners nationwide remembered Apa less for the distance she could not finish, and more for the selflessness that brought her to the starting line.
Both Bucknell and Charleston Southern honored a young woman whose drive was rooted in love for her family, while her relatives established The Rachel Apa Foundation to carry forward her mission of helping others and advocating for runner health and medical safety.
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