Everybody was already in the water, many or most were probably out,
If I had trained Iād be gutted for the two lads but Iād probably want to finish, itās not like a park run
Well I suppose the question is should they have been in the water at all. They shortened the swim so they obviously knew the conditions werenāt right.
Fair enough lash on with the bike and run.
Now saying that, the two lads might have had heart attacks or something and it could just be a terrible coincidence. But the reports seem to suggest conditions were not safe.
Like I said earlier, tri on yesterday and they called off the swim and had a 3km run at the start instead. Just not worth the risk.
Thatās one question.
The other is, if two of your competitors die, do you proceed with the event.
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Even those mad rally fuckers cancel events if someone dies.
They surely didnāt stay going?
100% agree here
I think a lot of the time there is an unawareness about what has happened, especially if itās a) in the water and b) behind you.
Personally if I saw someone die in front of me, I couldnāt continue. But Iāll be doing DCM end of October and Iāll probably see people getting medical attention but I wonāt know if it is fatal or not. Iāll presume not.
The poor lass I mentioned a few weeks back had travelled to France with a couple of clubmates who, from what I gather, didnāt realise she had passed away until after they had passed the finish line.
The first year they held this Ironman (2019), it was just bike and run as water was too choppy. why didnāt that happen this year? The water is not something to fucking mess with
I know two people at this. One was completely unaware until she crossed the line. The other is posting pictures to her Instagram of drinks and shenanigans all evening. Weird behaviour.
I didnāt watch news today but looking at the water in this clip would strike a bit of fear into me
For what itās worth, Ironman are a money making machine. Theyāve started making inroads into ultra trail running and thereās been a lot of people very critical of their involvement
Was just about to post that. Looks fair rough.
The thing is with Ironmans, people presume everyone is a great swimmer. Iāve seen people going from barely knowing how to swim to doing a half Ironman within a year. Not everyone in there is very competent. Throw in a few elbows to the head and those conditionsā¦
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Ya I was talking to a fella today who has done a few and he said going around the bouys there would be a big crowd turning in a tight area and youād be getting kicked in the face and elbowed in the head all over. Add in a rough sea and itās not ideal.
There were almost 2,000 athletes on the course today. Calling it off would have caused an absolute shitshow of mania and chaos.
hard to know who is worse here, the organisers or the participants
Ah here 
Theyāre mostly verging on middle-aged cunts, theyād want a shoe in the hole if the descend into āan absolute shitshow of mania and chaosā that easy
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I mean more so having to stop participants on the run course, cycle course and get people out of the water, get them all to remove everything from transition and away from town.
Iāve a little experience of these events. Itās a hard one to call blame on. Itās almost like some kind of coercive control on both sides. The competitors have mostly trained hard for a while, and put a lot of time, effort , money and logistic into it, and are keen for it to go ahead. The organisers ditto. The competitors are urging the organisers not to cancel. The organisers donāt want to cancel for a multitude of reasons, and, at the end of the day, they just allow participation, they donāt force anyone. Sea swimming carries an inherent risk, as does road cycling, and Iād wager thereās a death or serious injury in most of these events.
The competitors on the start line look at the sea. They think it looks scary, but the first group run in (the ultra-competitive alphas), and thereās a compulsion to follow, and a reassurance that āif theyāre going in, it must be alrightā.
Trouble is worsened by the fact that many of the competitors will have trained in a pool. Swimming in a calm sea is easy, but swimming in rougher sea is different. You have to change your breathing and your stroke to compensate, and to adjust timing and itās a bit less rhythmicalā¦Throw this in with a mass start and difficulty just getting going because of the breakers and it becomes significantly more dangerous.
I suspect the sea was probably flatter further out, but thatās just supposition.
Looking at it, Iād have been very very wary of letting that go ahead (to be honest, Iād have been looking at a lake venue as backup from inception), but itās an easy call to make in hindsight.
Itās an awful tragedy, but folk die during endurance events or whilst training for them all the time.
They are safer and better than snorting coke, but carry a decent element of risk nontheless.
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This would have been the right call again. IM probably too scared too many participants would take the deferral option then