MAT team volunteers at Chicago Marathon, gains great experience

On Sunday, October 13, nine Master of Athletic Training students and one faculty member worked as medical volunteers at the 46th Chicago Marathon.

The Chicago Marathon is one of the six World Marathon Majors and had over 50,000 participants finish this year. The Heidelberg delegation was also on hand to witness the women's marathon world record broken by nearly two minutes by Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich.

The Heidelberg MAT students were exposed to a large variety of injuries and medical conditions, giving them first-hand experience in recognizing and providing post-race care to runners from all over the world. Chicago Marathon's medical volunteer team includes more than 1,400 medical professionals and students and is considered one of the best event coverage teams in the world.

Heidelberg is the only school from Ohio that is part of that team, and the experience had multiple benefits for the ’Berg student volunteers.

"The Chicago Marathon was a great educational experience for me and the other students,” said second-year MAT student Halie Monhollen. “We were exposed to patients of different backgrounds and needs. We also worked with other healthcare professionals and other aspiring athletic trainers which helped expand our network within the profession"

The Heidelberg Athletic Training program has worked at the Chicago Marathon for over a decade and will continue to provide this amazing experience to future MAT students.

"I find it extremely important to provide our students with this opportunity. Very few sporting events require a medical staff to care for such a high volume of athletes in such a short period,” said Dr. Jena Suffel, Associate Professor of Athletic Training. “This guarantees that our students gain hands-on experience. We always make a weekend out of it and do something fun the day before. It's one of my favorite events and I look forward to it every year."

Pictured front row (l-r): Emily Davis. Dr. Jena Suffel, Halie Monhollen and Alyssa Stewart. Back row (l-r): Logan Arms, Hannah Zerr, Ethan Bennington, Bryan Kaspar, Sarah Chilton and Katie Rauch