The Rotterdam marathon was abandoned on Sunday afternoon after at least 26 runners were taken to hospital because of the heat, news agency ANP said. The official race had ended earlier in the day.

Fourteen people were actually admitted to hospital, two with heart complaints, ANP said.
Marathon director Mario Kadiks said the measure was ‘purely preventative’. Observers had noticed people getting into difficulty because of the heat and it was decided on the advice of medical experts to cancel the race at 14.30pm, Kadiks said.
Criticism by some runners that there was not enough water was nonsense, Kadiks said. He said in total, 200,000 beakers of water and 200,000 wet sponges were handed out – the equivalent of 15 glasses per runner.
The official race was won by Kenya’s Joshua Chelanga in a time of two hours, eight minutes and 21 seconds.