The Marion County Sheriff's office confirmed that Eric Jacks collapsed across the county line during the StumpJump but the preliminary autopsy report wasn't yet available.
Runners start the Rock Creek Stump Jump 11mile /50k trail race on Saturday. The largest and most competitive 50k trail race in the Southeast helps kick off the 2014 RiverRocks festival.
The organizer of the Rock Creek StumpJump confirmed that Eric Jacks was the runner who died during the 50K trail race on Saturday.
Photo depicts deceased StumpJump trail runner identified as Eric Jacks by Sharon Martin Jacks and shared publicly by the Wild Trails organization.Eric Jacks, a seasoned marathon runner from Murfreesboro, Tenn., had trained for weeks with his 15-year-old son, Connor, to run his first long trail run nearby in Chattanooga for the Rock/Creek StumpJump.
Jacks' ex-wife, Sharon Jacks, said he had traveled to Chicago, New York and San Antonio for marathons, but he had chosen to start trail running for the peace and joy it brought him. He was a doer, she said. He started in his own fraternity chapter in college, flew airplanes for a living and had delivered his youngest son in the car. But he also loved the outdoors.
On Saturday, Sharon Jacks, her current husband and Connor were at Signal Mountain High School, cameras in hand waiting for Eric to finally cross the finish line. But instead they got a call that he had collapsed on the trail near the race's half-way mark.
When they arrived at the hospital, Jacks, who was 53, was already pronounced dead.
Marion County Sheriff Ronnie "Bo" Burnett said Jacks had health problems and the medical examiner said he died of natural causes. Jacks family chose not to do an autopsy, he said. The medical examiner couldn't be reached for comment.
It was in between mile marker 16 and 17 in the Prentice Cooper State Forest when Jacks fell on the single-lane path, said Randy Whorton, race coordinator with Wild Trails. Another runner, who was a doctor, wasn't far behind him. Whorton said the doctor performed CPR for 30 minutes, but couldn't revive him.
A medical team along with multiple runners carried Jacks to a waiting ambulance.
Jacks, a commercial pilot and father of two sons, died doing what he loved, his son Connor wrote on his Facebook page.
"Sometimes I have to say to myself , "What an Eric Jacks move, to go out on an Ultra Marathon,'" Connor wrote. "I could only hope to go out in such a respectable way."
"I know the happiness and freedom running brought you, and for the rest of my life, I will know that's what you felt before you crossed over from this life to the next," Connor wrote.
Contact staff writer Joy Lukachick Smith at jsmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.