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How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms?
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The forecast for Ironman Maryland is looking like scattered thunderstorms.
I have been pretty lucky with weather in my races to this point and don't have any experience in bad weather.
How are thunderstorms handled? I'm assuming we won't swim in lightening, but do they let us bike/run?
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [martyhogan] [ In reply to ]
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For RD's this is perhaps the toughest and ,most challenging thing they have to do - make decisions on things that MAY happen ounce the race is underway and possibly hours away, and many miles/kilometers away!

You are right in that, they often call/cancel a race or a swim based on the conditions at the time of the swim. But say it's fine/OK for the swim start now ounce out on the course, it's a whole different predictive ball-game!

Many get frustrated by cancellations - and these frustrations are most often seen coming from the front 1/3 of the race field. But RD's are not often making the decisions about them, it's the back 1/3 of the filed that they are most thinking about and most worried about. With all due respect this is where you often find more then a few who are, quite frankly, ill-prepared to deal, cope and handle even moderate weather conditions.


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
Last edited by: Fleck: Sep 28, 16 8:24
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [martyhogan] [ In reply to ]
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At Pumpkinman in Maine a few weeks back they pulled everyone off course and ended the race due to severe weather.

Only time I encountered thunderstorms during IM was in Lake Placid back in 2002 where one rolled in around 11:45 p.m. and they closed the finish down (my wife and I were waiting for a friend of ours). There were still about a dozen or so people on the course who all finished (a few just after midnight) after the shutdown, and Mike Reilly announced the next day at the awards ceremony that those folks would be recognized as official finishers with the same times, and also announced each one of them by name since he wasn't able to do that the night before due to the storm/shutdown, which was a nice touch on his part.



"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [Brian in MA] [ In reply to ]
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At the recent Racine IM 70.3 they cancelled the swim and turned the race into a duathlon due to approaching storms. The storm was due to hit near the expected pro start time. After delays they shorted the bike to 30 something miles followed by the planned 13.1 run. I bailed before the shortened race started got underway.

Don't drown. Don't crash. Don't walk.
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [martyhogan] [ In reply to ]
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martyhogan wrote:
The forecast for Ironman Maryland is looking like scattered thunderstorms.
I have been pretty lucky with weather in my races to this point and don't have any experience in bad weather.
How are thunderstorms handled? I'm assuming we won't swim in lightening, but do they let us bike/run?

Search for threads about IM Texas 2016. Pretty severe thunderstorms popped up while most people were on the run. The response from the race organizers got mixed reviews.

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [japarker24] [ In reply to ]
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japarker24 wrote:
martyhogan wrote:
The forecast for Ironman Maryland is looking like scattered thunderstorms.
I have been pretty lucky with weather in my races to this point and don't have any experience in bad weather.
How are thunderstorms handled? I'm assuming we won't swim in lightening, but do they let us bike/run?


Search for threads about IM Texas 2016. Pretty severe thunderstorms popped up while most people were on the run. The response from the race organizers got mixed reviews.

To be fair, the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning. The organizers really didn't have a choice but to get everyone in to shelter. Of course where I got stopped was under some trees, which might not have been the best place to be. The alternative, however, was just out in an open field, so I guess being under the trees was a little better.

I will be at IMMD so have been watching the weather. "Scattered thunderstorms" doesn't sound like a dire forecast at all. Usually that means you might get some thunderstorm activity here or there, but it isn't a sure thing anywhere in the area. I am personally not worried about it. If it rains, just be careful on the bike and keep the rubber side down. Other than that, racing in the rain isn't that bad.
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [noofus] [ In reply to ]
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noofus wrote:
japarker24 wrote:
martyhogan wrote:
The forecast for Ironman Maryland is looking like scattered thunderstorms.
I have been pretty lucky with weather in my races to this point and don't have any experience in bad weather.
How are thunderstorms handled? I'm assuming we won't swim in lightening, but do they let us bike/run?


Search for threads about IM Texas 2016. Pretty severe thunderstorms popped up while most people were on the run. The response from the race organizers got mixed reviews.


To be fair, the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning. The organizers really didn't have a choice but to get everyone in to shelter. Of course where I got stopped was under some trees, which might not have been the best place to be. The alternative, however, was just out in an open field, so I guess being under the trees was a little better.

The finish line also blew over so something had to be done.
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [rotosound] [ In reply to ]
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rotosound wrote:
At the recent Racine IM 70.3 they cancelled the swim and turned the race into a duathlon due to approaching storms. The storm was due to hit near the expected pro start time. After delays they shorted the bike to 30 something miles followed by the planned 13.1 run. I bailed before the shortened race started got underway.

yeah, the lake was so bad the NWS issued a small craft advisory.
The 31 mile "TT" with a rolling start was fun. The run was alright, but after the storm the humidity jumped a bit.
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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [martyhogan] [ In reply to ]
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As said, this has got to be the worst RD situation. Scattered storms does not sound bad, but things change. In my 17 years of triathlon I have only had 3 weather issues. One was outright cancelled. By the time the severe lightning and rain stopped it was too late to get things started. The second they cancelled the swim and did a TT bike start. We ended up racing in some very dangerous conditions. It got way worse on the bike than it was at the start/finish. A few years later at the same race they cancelled it on the bike, and it for a total cluster. It would have been safer to let everyone finish the bike and cancel the run. people were turning around in the middle of the road to head back and almost the whole field got stuck in some bad weather bc you couldn't ride back fast at all with all the people.

Good luck. I hope it turns out well for you guys.

Brian

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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [martyhogan] [ In reply to ]
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"Treat this warning the same as you would a tornado warning by taking the proper safety precautions. The best defense against thunderstorms is to stay inside a sturdy building or shelter that can protect you from deadly lightning, large hail, damaging winds, flooding rain and tornadoes."


You really shouldn't be outside during an active thunderstorm in your area.


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Re: How do Ironman events handle thunderstorms? [martyhogan] [ In reply to ]
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I'm from Southern California where, sure, we've had people killed in lightning strikes on a local beach, but otherwise, we seldom have races interrupted by thunderstorms.

So I was super-impressed at an evening half-marathon at Disney World last fall. Thousands of runners had gathered outdoors for the race, but there appeared to be lightning activity far away but getting closer. Race organizers kept the runners who were in the assembly area from going to the start line for a while, and when it appeared the storm was going to reach us, they channeled thousands of us into a couple of nearby convention halls, a baseball stadium and sports arena.

We waited about an hour, and then they sent us out to the start corrals and we had our race, cut short to about 8 miles due to the storm delay.

Sure, it's Disney, with tons of competent employees working in sync. It would be difficult for a triathlon race director to duplicate that, or have a shelter nearby big enough to house a couple thousand runners. I can't even imagine most of the marathons I've gone to managing that feat either.

Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018
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