SEPTA subway train carrying hundreds of Broad Street runners loses power

This was not the way they envisioned the day starting — working up a powerful sweat before they even took a step in the annual Independence Blue Cross Broad Street Run.

Hundreds of sweltering passengers on their way to the starting line on Sunday were stuck on a northbound Broad Street subway train that lost power near the Hunting Park Station.

A “garden-variety mechanical issue” stopped the train and knocked out the air-conditioning system, said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch.

“We felt like we couldn’t make this up,” said Lori Tortorice, 70, of South Philadelphia, who wasn’t stressing about missing the start of the race.

“The only good thing is, I’m in the last corral. This is my 10th.”

A rescue train eventually pushed the cars to the Wyoming Avenue Station, where passengers exited the cars and then hiked to the starting line, near Broad and Somerville Avenue, about 1.2 miles from the station.

“It was definitely anxiety-provoking, but happy to be off the train,” said Siobhan McKenna, 28, of South Philadelphia. While the walk was “a little bit of a nice warm-up, if it was one block it would have been perfect,” she said.

All six cars of the stalled train were full, and Busch estimated that 600 to 800 passengers were on board.

The ordeal also interfered with runners’ bathroom and water consumption routines. Long lines formed at the portable toilets.

Busch said weather was not a factor in the mechanical failure.

But with more storms due Sunday, perhaps a problem to be named later.