Yes, that is a more than reasonable point.

Maybe every if every swimmer had their own support boat! Hey, it works for Rotto. ;-)

You live in WA, and you do triathlons. Shark cancellations are inevitable for ocean swims. When I lived in NZ triathlons the swim leg would get cancelled frequently due to extreme weather (mostly high winds, sometimes large swell). If we wanted controlled conditions we'd race indoors.

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

Did u get the email offering 100 bucks off for an ironman 70.3 event in 2018?

The great whites are better at hiding...!

I got:
"Sometimes race day doesn’t go to plan, whether it is our bodies, our bikes or mother nature. On Sunday we had to make two hard decisions in the interests of athlete safety, which consisted of cancelling the swim after a shark was spotted near the course, and shortening the bike leg for some athletes after bushfires threatened parts of the course.

We know how much you put into your training, the sacrifices you have made, and how hard you worked to get to that start line, and many of you will be disappointed not to have completed the full course, particularly our first time athletes. We understand that disappointment but encourage you to consider what a remarkable achievement it was cycling and running those distances in that heat – what a tough day that was!

To encourage you to continue to chase your IRONMAN dream, be it your first, 10th or hundredth event, IRONMAN Oceania would like to offer you a $200 discount on entry to one of our 2018 full distance IRONMAN races in Australia or New Zealand.

You will receive an email from ACTIVE in the next 48 hours with a personalised link allowing you to choose the event you'd like to apply this discount to (please ensure you check your junk folder). You'll have until 11.59pm on February 2, 2018 to make your choice. Once you have made your selection you'll receive another email within 10 business days with details on completing your registration to your chosen event. Once registered, normal race rules and T&Cs will apply.

All the best over the coming weeks with your recovery, and we look forward to seeing you on the start line of one of our events soon.

Kind Regards,
Ben Herbert - Race Director"

Yep you got the full discount. I got the 70.3 discount.

I'm not being a tough guy who isn't scared of sharks, I just think they need a better, more specific strategy.

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So I think the only thing they can do is look for locations that have small shark interactions. IE- shark net beaches or bay swim that is off the main ocean, etc. I have no idea how many beaches have shark nets. My web designer lives in Aussie and she laughed when I brought up shark net...she was like do you know how long the coast line is for most beaches. She lives at beach where high fatality rate of shark interactions is. They don’t even want shark nets even with the fatalities. They just deal with it when they are spotted.

Beyond that I think it’s pretty simple. Especially for an IM event. They aren’t delaying it for a few hours or going to be able to change locations. So then it’s on you as a consumer to either accept that risk as the backup plans you brought up aren’t anything close to real world acceptable.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II