854 BO55 -Is illness prevention more important than injury prevention in trail runners participating in the 2020 SkyRun?

Background Trail running, a popular off-road sport, involves running in natural environments over various terrains, often in remote locations. Objectives To investigate the prevalence, nature and risk factors (RFs) of medical encounters (MEs), i.e. injuries and illnesses, among trail runners on race-day. Design Descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting 2020 SkyRun trail race (38km, 65km and 100km distances), South Africa. Patients or Other Participants Consenting trail runners ≥18 years (n=285; 86.1%). Assessment The medical team on race-day captured all MEs. An ME is defined as a race participant presenting to the medical team with an illness or injury sustained from the official start up to 24 hours after the official cut-off time. Main Outcome Measure(s Data included demographic details, injuries (body region, specific body area, tissue type, pathology) and illnesses (organ system, symptom cluster, aetiology). RFs included sex, age, weight, height, race distance, illness and injury history, training and running experience. Frequency (n,%), prevalence (%) and odds ratios (OR; 95%CI) are reported. Results Eighty-nine (31.2%) individuals reported 131 MEs 49 injuries (37.4%); 82 illnesses (62.6%). Prevalence of injuries was 14.7%, and of illnesses, 22.5%. The lower limb was mainly involved (83.7%), specifically the foot (36.7%), ankle (20.4%) and knee (14.3%). Tissue types involved skin (42.8%), ligament (14.3%) and muscle (14.3%). Illness affected multiple (54.9%) and gastrointestinal (20.7%) organ systems. Only 100km runners reported dehydration (31.5%), and 1 in 6 of these runners (17.9%) did not finish (DNF). Runners reporting fatigue (23.6%) had a high DNF rate (61.9%). Also, 2 in every 5 participants (40.4%) reporting an ME DNF. No ME-associated RFs identified. Conclusions Illness MEs were more common than injury MEs during the 2020 SkyRun race. Sustaining an ME increased the chance of not completing the race. Further research is required to assist in developing strategies to prevent race-day adverse events.