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RIDGEFIELD, Conn. Three years ago at the Ridgefield Half Marathon, Bill Begg saved Roy Van Eick's life. Begg, an emergency room doctor at Danbury Hospital, came upon Van Eick flat on his back, with no pulse, after suffering a mid-race cardiac arrest. CPR saved Van Eick, and an implanted defibrillator has put him back on the roads.
On Sunday, Stamford's Van Eick acted as a human pacemaker for Begg, leading him to the finish over the last miles of the race. "Roy said, 'Let's run together,'" said Begg. "I told him, 'I'm just hanging on for the ride.'" The duo crossed the finish together in 1:46:56, which earned Van Eick fourth place in the male 60-69 age group.
After the race, they posed for a photo with another ER doctor, albeit a make-believe one. Anthony Edwards, who played Dr. Mark Green on the long-running TV series "ER," ran the race in support of Shoe4Africa, an organization that supports fitness and health initiatives in Kenya. As part of the effort, nearly 1,000 pairs of shoes were collected at the race. For his part, Begg was thrilled to meet his fictional counterpart.
"A generation ago, no one wanted to be an ER doc and very few knew CPR," he said. "Anthony Edwards and the cast of 'ER' put my profession on the map. All this great press has empowered many to learn CPR, so we have good friends like Roy to still run with."
After an early morning downpour, the weather changed to almost perfect autumn running conditions, and brought out 472 finishers.
Complete results are available on the HiTekRacing website.
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