Dr Pedro Pujol died

02 July: Dr Pedro Pujol, founder member of IMMDA and the longtime medical director of the Barcelona Marathon, passed away earlier today in a hospital in Barcelona.

Born on 12 February 1931, Dr Pujol became one of the foremost authorities on medical aspects of endurance running. His close collaboration with Professor Dr Ernst Van Akken (Germany) in a study on endurance in women marathon runners led to him becoming a Member of the Deutscher Verband langlaufender Ärzte, and provided major encouragement to the cause of women's running.

He also collaborated with Dr David Martin (USA) in various studies of heat related problems in endurance athletes, and also became a Fellow of the American College of Sport Medicine.

Dr Pujol was Medical Director of the Olympic Training Center (CAR), Sant Cugat, from 1992 to 2009, and Olympic Medical Director for Marathon and Race Walking at the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992. He followed on as a member of the American Medical Team at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and in parallel acted as Medical triage captain at the finish line of the New York City Marathon for more than 20 years. He was a former President of the International Marathon Medical Directors Association.

On 3 July AIMS President Paco Borao wrote to the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMMDA, Lewis Maharam MD: "the running community yesterday lost one of its greatest defenders, and one of the best professionals in the medical area, always working with the maximum of commitment and friendship.

I have been in touch with his family since Pedro was also a close friend of our Valencia Marathon since the first edition in 1981. It is an enormous loss for all of us."

Source: AIMSworldrunning.org