I was really worried about this during the race. Thoughts go out to him and the family.

I was at the front of the race and noticed that most of the cops weren't paying attention. Given I was on the bike course early, I figured they would start paying attention as the swarm of AG'ers came by.

I had a lady cop almost take me out coming home on 22 Ave. She was walking across the street with her back turned to me and never saw me. I yelled to give her a heads up but I had to thread the needle between a couple cops and narrowly missed her.

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blog

My wave didn't go off until 8:30. So imagine how much less they were paying attention then...

Is it just me or is this happening a lot more often lately?

Someone got hit in Galveston, Boulder, IMWI, Miami. I think IMMT too but I'm not positive on that. I don't remember hearing about many incidents with cars during races years ago.

I had more than one close call yesterday as well. The first and last 5 miles were pretty dicey. People were crossing the road, cars were getting into the bike lane, and there were quite a few officers standing and not directing people or traffic out of the way. On the way back in it was really bad because they were only looking for people on the way out still. We really have to ride with our heads up.

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Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

i was in the first wave of Escape to Miami last month and this almost happened to me. A Miami PD cop let a Lamborghini cut the course and I had to jump out of the aerobars and onto the brakes and almost endo'd. As expensive as police OT is, they really aren't paying much attention. I saw the ambulance and a beat up bike on the road yesterday and was wondering what the heck happened. I hope they're ok

There was a good crash at IMMT but it did not involve a car. IMMT course is closed to traffic.

Yuck. I didn't hear about the accident yesterday so I have no information. I hope the athlete is okay and if I hear anything I'll update you.

Horrible accident. The athlete is still in the hospital with 4 broken ribs, broken vertebrae, punctured lung and stitches across his brow. Let's all pray for his recovery.

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http://www.verynooty.com

Yup. Just came to post the update. But this is what I heard as well.

An AGer was sideswiped by a fast moving car making an improper turn in IMNC on Sat too. He's okay enough to post on FB but I believe he broke a few bones and will be off his feet for quite some time.

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

I was leaving T1 at Ironman NC this weekend, driving over to downtown and saw a lady texting in her phone pull over into the right lane the athletes were using and drive right up behind people on their bikes and honk. She eventually got back into the left lane.

Even worse the lady in that car practically followed me downtown and parked in the convention center, I didn't see her after that, but the "tri" sticker on her car makes me think she was a spectator as well.

That was me that got hit in Galveston. Most avoidable accident ever.

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Internet User

My experience was 2013 in Miami, not this year - but I did want to say that some of the police out on the course do an excellent job.

I went down on the bike around mile 23-ish passing out from broken ribs on the swim. The FL state patrolman (state policeman, trooper - not sure what they are called in FL) who was manning the nearest intersection about 1/2 mile back saw me go down and made a bee line for me while summoning the nearest aid unit. After the aid unit treated me, he put my bike on the back of his car and held onto it and made sure it made the SAG wagon and made it all the way back to me. He also called my wife for me to let her know what happened (she was wondering as my tracker had gone a long time without updates) and he followed up with me after the race. He was a true gentleman and genuinely cared.

It's truly unfortunate that happened to you, but I guess I wanted to offer a counterpoint as some of those officers do a fantastic job.

I've seen one bad accident earlier this year where a car pulled out in front of an athlete with cops at the intersection as well as cones everywhere. Didn't see the accident, so not sure if the cops weren't paying attention, or if the driver just wasn't paying attention. Certainly the driver held some responsibility as it was very obvious there was a race course. Never got to find out what happened to the competitor. There was serious damage to the side of the car where he t-boned it, so I'm sure he had some injuries.

Had another situation about a month and a half ago. We have the right lane blocked off and traffic gets the left lane. Car decides to take a right turn across our lane. Cop is at that intersection yelling at the car to not go waving his arms. Car still tries to go. Cop has to run toward the car to get their attention. I seriously doubt I'd have gotten around that car if it had gone much further. So sometimes it's beyond the scope of the cop paying attention. Some people are just that bad at driving, as I know this car saw all of us since they had just passed us. It's like they have no concept of how fast you are going, or they think you should brake for them even though you have the road for a race.

I was in a later wave and was going to say the same thing. This is seriously unacceptable.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Overall, most of them do a stellar job. Yesterday, a bunch of cops at different intersections were working hard and many were actually cheering as well. That was awesome. Problem is that it doesn't take much for something scary to happen.

Agreed.

Unfortunately it looks like his in intensive care with 5 broken ribs, a fractured L5 vertebrae, and a punctured lung. I was riding close to him for a good portion of the race. We were leap frogging for at least 10-15 miles. https://www.gofundme.com/...al-expenses-2vrmtp4u

I did IMNC this weekend and heard there was at least one person hit by a car coming out of T1 - and apparently fairly badly at that. I also noted a great deal of what I call the "bubba factor" in effect on both the bike and the run - lotta pickups driving at high speed pretty close to the bike course and extremely close to the run course. I thought the police did a really good job of keeping the intersections closed to traffic while athletes were crossing while also trying to accommodate folks doing their own thing in cars and trucks. Saw at least one guy get pulled over for trying to cross into runners. That said, the cops in Wrightsville Beach did not take kindly to folks on TT bikes blowing through red lights in the days leading up to the event. Saw one guy get lit up running the red light by the bridge heading over to the mainland.

As much as I would like to see police do a better job of keeping the roads clear for athletes, I think municipal leaders need to make this a greater priority. WTC brings a lot of money to these towns, granted with some chaos for a day or so, but bad behavior will drive athletes and races away. Just my two cents.

I was also there in 2013, and remember walking out of transition, and seeing a bike hanging on one of the racks completely ripped in two. I heard that a driver tried to get through an intersection (no idea if law enforcement was there or how they acted....) and slammed into the guy. Think he was a pro. Never saw a bike ripped up like that. That early part of the course seemed a bit sketchy with a LOT f cross streets.

:(

Really sorry to hear about this. It seems it's happening more and more. In a bizzare way it's part of why I'm tempted to try Xterra.