TWO PARTICIPANTS FROM overseas have died in separate incidents this morning during the Ironman competition in Youghal, Co Cork.
One of the men who died is Irish but had been living in the UK whilst the other is a native of Canada.
One of the men is in his sixties whilst the other is in his forties. The men had been taking part in the 1.7km swim portion of the event when they got in to difficulties.
Both men were removed from the water by emergency services and were pronounced dead by medical personnel.
The swimmers were among several thousand competitors who entered the water at the Front Strand in Youghal.
Some were competing in the 70.3 mile half triathlon whilst others were taking part in the full 226.3 km full race.
The 70.3 mile event had to be postponed yesterday (Sat) in the aftermath of Storm Betty.
It was rescheduled for today along with the main Ironman event. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
The event is continuing.
For reference this is the swimming conditions on that day (footage does not contain any fatalities)
https://reddit.com/r/ireland/s/SRlHYddsyM
I’m surprised it was only two people. I can’t imagine anyone thinking swimming in those conditions as part of a competition was a good idea.
I predict a fresh round of “suddenly died” from the antivax crowd without looking at this video or any other context.
Bro, if they’d taken 5000 IU more vitamin D that day, bro
Even if the seas are calm I ride with some triathletes. One no longer competes because the swim portions for some races are awful. There’s a mass run of people into the water and people literally get swam over
Also, let’s not link reddit here, mkay?
You can just play the video and exit the site. There’s nothing wrong with linking a site if it contributes to the reporting of a story like this. Spare me the overly performative anti reddit shit.
this looks crazy. I’ve seen IMMD swims get canceled for much less horrible conditions so it might be the local race directors making a really bad call
I had an Olympic distance triathlon swim get cut in half (from 1500 m to 750 m swim + a 1500 m beach run before transition 1) on the mere suspicion that conditions might be bad. The call was made the night before, and then in the morning it was still as glass. This event was run by the Iron Man company (World Triathlon Corporation), too.
I cannot fathom running a race in conditions that bad, especially that close to rocks.