Runner Hit by Deer After It 'Came Out of the Woods, Barreling Down' During Race: 'Freak Accident'
- - - Runner Hit by Deer After It 'Came Out of the Woods, Barreling Down' During Race: 'Freak Accident'
Cara Lynn ShultzJuly 16, 2025 at 1:07 AM
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Stock image of a deer crossing the road.
A runner was hit by a deer after it came “barreling” out of the woods during the Boilermaker 15K Road Race in Utica, N.Y.,
The woman was treated on-site by medics before being transferred to a hospital for a head and leg injury
The deer ran off into the woods and appeared “panicked,” an onlooker said
A woman was hospitalized during a race in upstate New York after a deer came “barreling” out of the woods and collided with her.
The unnamed woman was participating in the annual Boilermaker 15K Road Race, an iconic running event that takes place during a weeklong celebration in Utica, N.Y., on July 13. The collision happened around the four-mile mark, on Master Garden Road near Valley View Golf Course, when a deer ran out of the woods, striking the woman, Syracuse.com reports.
“It’s a nice downhill stretch, and the deer came out of the woods, barreling down, and hit the woman,” race director Jim Stasaitis told the outlet. “It’s just one of those freak accidents.”
It was a “good-sized doe,” another runner, Gregory Yorton, who saw it come out of the woods, said. He shared that other runners assisted her as he yelled for a medic.
“You just don’t expect deer to jump out,” Ana Peckham, who saw the collision, told the Utica Observer-Dispatch. “That was crazy.”
“You could tell that the deer was, like, panicked, too,” she added about the animal, which ran back into the woods.
The woman was treated for a head and leg injury on site before she was transported in an ambulance to a local hospital. She’s since been transferred to Syracuse’s Upstate University Hospital.
Photos that appeared to be of the woman online showed her with a bruised face, black eye, and bloody ear as she lay by the side of road, while being tended to by medics.
She wasn’t the only one who ended the race in the hospital, as others struggled with the heat; A total of 77 runners — out of nearly 8,500 — were treated for heat exhaustion at the finish line medical tent, with Syracuse.com reporting that six ended up being transported to the hospital for further care.
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