IM Africa

explorerJC · Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 16060 Location: Farthingstone

Very sad news of two fatalities... Sad

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mattsurf · Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Posts: 852 Location: Zug, Switzerland

Very sad, both on the swim, and the swim was halved due to very hard conditions. There is so much pressure on IM to run the whole event no matter what the conditions... in Weymouth they almost cancelled the swim, but decided not to, however, more than 50 competitors had to be pulled from the water

explorerJC · Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 16060 Location: Farthingstone

Tony Stark · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 2486 Location: Milton Keynes

Its called Ironman, not Marshmallowman.

ttowel · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 4127 Location: Swim School

Maybe Tony, but there are several issues here.

Ironman still remains one of the toughest single day endurance events and there is absolutely no minimum standard to take part in it. You don't need to prove you can swim 100m.

If a swim is too rough for full distance it should be cancelled. Not sure that anyone who is anxious of rough sea, sees 90 minutes of hell more preferable over 2 hours of flat water.

Ironman is just a business that gives no turd about its competitors and will come out of any law suit squeaky clean

Doonhamer · Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:55 pm Post subject:

explorerJC · Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 16060 Location: Farthingstone

although it shouldn't be beyond any participant to call it quits if they are not sufficiently prepared...
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mattsurf · Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Posts: 852 Location: Zug, Switzerland

I was surprised in Weymouth last year how many people were not prepared for a choppy sea swim, over 50 people had to be pulled off the swim course by the rescue boats. Conditons were quite tough, but nothing unusual, and not as bad as some of the local triathlons in the past. According to IM, they were very close to cancelling the swim completely, but in the end they shortened it.

Sea swims are different to pools and lakes, and I understand that many people have no access to the sea to practice. I am inclined to agree that a shortened swim is not really effective, those people who are able to swim in a choppy sea, will be able to swim 2km or 4km, while those who struggle in choppy water will still find swimming 2km very tough

JaRok2300 · Joined: 01 May 2014 Posts: 461 Location: Worcester, UK

You've only got to see the outrage if a race is declared non-wetsuit to understand the level of swimming ability many potential IM competitors get to. A perfectly calm wetsuit swim seems to be the absolute limit of what they train for.

If you spend a bit of time on IM Journey upi realise that is almost the culture now, it's applauded hence one of their most celebrated members "Riptide"

explorerJC · Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 16060 Location: Farthingstone

if you haven't access to a sea swim for practise and you are not a strong swimmer, why on earth would you not sign up for a more practical option?
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Jorgan · Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:27 am Post subject:

As far as the populous goes, I'm a very strong swimmer and yet the only time I've had a 'wobble' was in a rough sea swim*. It's certainly the most likely place you're going to be put under extreme stress & panic in a triathlon.

*Okay, it is called the 'Extreme Surf Triathlon' for a reason! But that was a particularly bad year, and I'd even got a few sea swims done in Cornwall that summer as preparation. On the way back in, a wave picked me up and double somersaulted me underwater; luckily my goggles stayed on, but my hat was ripped off (I always put the strap under the cap).

But yeah, far too many people entering Triathlons pay lip-service to swimming; it's why Standard Dist events have dried-up Rolling Eyes

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Whisk · Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 8739 Location: London

I remember standing in the registration queue at St George and the people behind were discussing how they hoped to finish the swim inside the cut-off "this time", having started multiple races without ever being able to start the bike Rolling Eyes

. I was a swimmer as a kid, so the swim has never been an issue for me, but I can't understand why anyone who is a weak swimmer would even contemplate entering an event with what by most standards is a "long" swim.

I guess from a race organiser's point of view, cancelling the swim isn't as simple as just dropping one leg of the event. You obviously can't have everyone starting the bike at the same time, so you either need to put a 2nd run at the start and have the logistical issues of how your transitions etc are going to work, or you simply set people off at intervals on the bike. If you do the latter, you're probably going to have to cut the distances short too.
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fat buddha · Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Posts: 2547 Location: rural Zuzzex

awildt · Joined: 08 Apr 2011 Posts: 705 Location: sunny (!) NW

In this case the 2 swimmers who died were from coastal towns in South Africa. So I'm sure it was more a combination of unfortunate scenarios than lack of prep. No I don't know how much sea swimming they did in their prep, but reading about the one guy (from my hometown) he wasn't a stranger to SA's obsession with endurance events so I am sure he would've done as much as possible to be prepared.

One thing they did note was the cold water, which a person from the east coast of SA would have difficulty preparing for, especially at this time of year, and does cause shock issues in a swim (as Europeans know and become accustomed to).

I agree that Ironman does attract a vast number of non-swimmers and underprepared swimmers, and people should be educated about the differences in the swim conditions and how much it can affect you. But that takes time and money Rolling Eyes