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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [dwgrenle] [ In reply to ]
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dwgrenle wrote:
I did the race today, I consider myself a strong swimmer and I put up a (imho) horrible time. This was my first time doing the race. I did not consider the temp to be an issue until getting out of the water, the issue was the wind blowing North, and the tide pulling hard out. The chop was really big and it really impared my normal stroke. Lot of missed breaths and drank a lot of water. Sighting was really confussing. I would not recommend this swim for a begginner and hope that the very well run race does a good job checking the qualifications of the participants. Even if you swim and race on a regular basis today was a whole other ball game. Just my opinion. I wish the best to the wife and family, cant imagine how difficult this is. RIP and God Bless.

This describes my experience as well. The chop was tough. I had a tough time sighting over the swell, just one wave to the face after another. Breathing to the right was nearly impossible.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Tri-livin] [ In reply to ]
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I am sorta glad I didn't get picked in the lottery this year. The water temps, conditions, etc seemed a really hard swim.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [MarkM] [ In reply to ]
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My condolences to the friends & family of the triathlete.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Pelotontopodium] [ In reply to ]
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Sad story for the Austin community...
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [GreatScott] [ In reply to ]
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A Video of the swim from one of the support kayaks.

[video removed. was from last years race]
Last edited by: Atak Kat: Mar 4, 13 6:01
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Atak Kat] [ In reply to ]
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Atak Kat wrote:
A Video of the swim from one of the support kayaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgxtM1ace8Q
that looks really rough and choppy

Sad, it happened.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Atak Kat] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for posting that video. The chop was pretty gnarly out there. Got slapped in the face with water over and over again. As a pro I was lucky to have the lead boat with a big, bright pink buoy on the back to follow. Sighting for anyone that jumped off the boat more than a few minutes behind us must have been very difficult.

Condolences to the family of the gentleman who passed. Very, very sad news.

Jason Pedersen
RunPd.com - Running as fast I can since '93
@jasonpedersen
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Atak Kat] [ In reply to ]
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Here's another video of swim start viewed from the boat.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Atak Kat] [ In reply to ]
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RIP and my tho are with his family...

The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Atak Kat] [ In reply to ]
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Atak Kat wrote:
A Video of the swim from one of the support kayaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgxtM1ace8Q

If you follow the link in the description of this video it was originally posted in 9/12, so it is not footage of this year's race.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Rrr8400] [ In reply to ]
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yup. you're right. my bad.

-ak-
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Atak Kat] [ In reply to ]
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But I did it this year and it was at least as choppy as that video if not more so.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [dwgrenle] [ In reply to ]
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dwgrenle wrote:
I did the race today, I consider myself a strong swimmer and I put up a (imho) horrible time. This was my first time doing the race. I did not consider the temp to be an issue until getting out of the water, the issue was the wind blowing North, and the tide pulling hard out. The chop was really big and it really impared my normal stroke. Lot of missed breaths and drank a lot of water. Sighting was really confussing. I would not recommend this swim for a begginner and hope that the very well run race does a good job checking the qualifications of the participants. Even if you swim and race on a regular basis today was a whole other ball game. Just my opinion. I wish the best to the wife and family, cant imagine how difficult this is. RIP and God Bless.

I also agree with this... I'm not a strong swimmer. MOP normally, but I am confident in my swim ability (however slow). But this was definitely the toughest swim I've ever done. Cold aside (which sucked, but after a few minutes you were numb to it), the waves were a pain in the butt. I breathe to the right which just made my life worse.

I think the current was the biggest culprit. At no point was I getting a free ride... It was a struggle to get across the current before it swept you past the swim exit. A lot of people ended up west of the swim exit. A strong swimmer could have crossed the current better and had a decent swim... me, I just made it to the the swim exit, but spent a lot of energy swimming east. I could see how someone would freak out and panic that they are swimming hard, but just getting swept away.

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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Rrr8400] [ In reply to ]
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Not going to post the name on the board, but just read an article where an anonymous source named the victim. Confirmed DNF in race results also. Did a Google search on his name and one of the first links is an article where he is defending the death of a UT Professor who was hit while cycling (he was an attorney), tragedy indeed for my ATX community.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Quant] [ In reply to ]
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If you googled athlinks after his name you would see he also had more then a few races under him.

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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Bmanners] [ In reply to ]
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I'm an SF local and trained in the bay (to aclimate to the low water temps and the like) for a month before the race and the swim was the hardest that I've experienced. I can only imagine what it was like for folks coming in from out of town dealing with that.

The local paper here reported today that over 150 people were pulled from the water by kayaks and rescue boats yesterday. Crazy!
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Titanflexr] [ In reply to ]
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Here's a link to the story: http://www.sfgate.com/...riathlon-4326269.php
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [terje] [ In reply to ]
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I love how the race director is immediately claiming that it was a cardiac problem even before the body is dry. I guess it's an easy and currently popular way to deny liability.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Kenny Powers] [ In reply to ]
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Kenny Powers wrote:
Atak Kat wrote:
A Video of the swim from one of the support kayaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgxtM1ace8Q

that looks really rough and choppy

Sad, it happened.

I heard the current was quite strong too and you were never swimming with it.

So sad to hear about this death. =(
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Bmanners] [ In reply to ]
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Bmanners wrote:
If you googled athlinks after his name you would see he also had more then a few races under him.

True, Athlinks has results of 11 races..... but you'll notice nothing recorded since 2006....and only four tri races (the rest are runs) in his history. I'm not familiar enough with Athlinks but I thought they are pretty accurate with race results..... are very accurate with having results of all my races over the past two years......since I started doing tri events. Just wondering if there is a possibility this was his first race in 6-7 years. Might explain the sudden cardiac arrest? Who knows.....just a thought......tough event to enter if it was. God bless him and his family.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [gphin305] [ In reply to ]
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gphin305 wrote:
Bmanners wrote:
If you googled athlinks after his name you would see he also had more then a few races under him.


True, Athlinks has results of 11 races..... but you'll notice nothing recorded since 2006....and only four tri races (the rest are runs) in his history. I'm not familiar enough with Athlinks but I thought they are pretty accurate with race results..... are very accurate with having results of all my races over the past two years......since I started doing tri events. Just wondering if there is a possibility this was his first race in 6-7 years. Might explain the sudden cardiac arrest? Who knows.....just a thought......tough event to enter if it was. God bless him and his family.

----

There are plenty of people who never race that are among the fittest people you will ever meet.Athlinks does a good job of listing races but does nothing to show how a person lives their life.

--
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [npage148] [ In reply to ]
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Right. "Cardiac arrest/problem" is the knee-jerk claim. Or, in South Africa it was "cardiac respiratory arrest." Well duh, isn't that how we all die sooner or later? But it's a push when they claim it was a "massive heart attack" because that implies underlying heart disease. If there is an autopsy, the findings may show 'athlete's heart,' another generalization that seems to blame the athlete or the sport.

npage148 wrote:
I love how the race director is immediately claiming that it was a cardiac problem even before the body is dry. I guess it's an easy and currently popular way to deny liability.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Kenny Powers] [ In reply to ]
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That video was last year, and last year was pretty tame by most accounts (I did the race). I think the temp was 52, 51 is average. I swam aquatic park the day before and it was 51. Cold. Choppy. Confusing.

It is a tough swim, but that jump is an adrenaline explosion. You've been waiting on a warm ship for an hour or more, you can barely see SF, you are told you have literally seconds to get in and get out of the way, you know it is going to be freezing and choppy, and if you've never done it before, you have this small inkling of doubt in the back of your mind. It is infamous for a reason.

They tell athletes at pre-race that the swim is the most mentally challenging swim you will ever do. That seems pretty correct. Swim starts are always stressful, but with Alcatraz, it is a massive mental hump to get over.

There are literally a million things that could have gone wrong for this guy. People jump in with little regard for athletes in front of them. Two or three people could have come in on top of him if he was already in distress.

Another issue with Alcatraz is that there are a LOT of inexperienced swimmers. People with little to no experience with anything at that distance or in that water.

Still, it is the single greatest race I've ever done.
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Re: Escape From Alcatraz death? [Lou3000] [ In reply to ]
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I don't think jumping off a boat is the safest way for mass swim starts. Even if they are in smaller waves

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