I’ve been at races in which the conditions would have been tolerable for 80% of athletes, but were canceled/shortened nonetheless—simply because they worry about the worst swimmer in the crowd. That’s always frustrating, because the sport is supposed to be hard and the weakest athletes should be self-responsible for deciding when not to race. I blame IM on those days.

This looks a day when cancellation was a no-brainer, so not the day to take aim at IM.

Having put so much focus and effort into preparing for this one event I'm obviously disappointed, but cancelling was the right call vs allowing 3,000 people to swim & ride with downed limbs everywhere. My hat is off to all the volunteers - many of whom are still out there now...

I'm very glad they didn't proceed with a truncated event - that would have been the worst of the bad options.

Yeah there is plenty to criticize IM. I get why they wait but not a fan of it when as here all the weather sources pinpointed this to the hour. Smoke is another issue that has to wait until race day.

I was actually really warm in my wetsuit, hoodie and parka :)

And yeah, weather has changed too. Welcome to racing in the new climate change regime

I first heard that just the swim was gonna be canceled and I was already out. Not gonna do a 56/26.2 brick today

Oh wow you saw more than I. Nice seeing you and meeting Lisa

How practical would it be for IM to apply for permits for Sat and Sun, and then 1-2 weeks out they would settle on an “official” day, weather dependent? Have the race planned for one day, but if there is severe weather on the horizon, you have a backup plan secured. This would not be “well Saturday looks like it’s a little better temp so let’s do it then instead.” It would be reserved for truly dangerous circumstances like this.

I drove out on the course early and there were trees down all over. Porta potties, signs, etc. in the middle of the road. Then, yeah, as I drive back into the hotel I see a tree down on top of a Jeep (bummer) and porta potties down there, too. Told Lisa the only reason we were driving over to the stadium was to pick up her bike. Lol. I can only imagine what the athlete's village looks like this morning.


Thanks, Jim for this.

Here's the other thing that rarely get's talked about on days like this - the volunteers. What about their situation and safety, and the fact that of say, 3000 volunteers (typical for an IM races), a good number of these will get up in the morning, look out the window, and decide they are not going, or guess that the race will be cancelled. So as an RD when you are most in need of Volunteers, you are down perhaps 25% - 30%.

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Impossible. Volunteers, permits, business closures, and on and on

Plus two weeks ago this wasn’t even close to predicted. This developed in the last 5 or so days

Dev you are spot on. I would have done the same today. Thankfully, that decision was made for me. Yesterday the weather made it doable...today not so much. Live to race another day!

---

http://www.fuelforendurance.com

This thread was started Oct 18th with predictions for bad weather. Of course weather can change over the course of 2 weeks. But the forecast was out there, and it was certainly out there for longer than the last 5 days.

Not to this degree. They’re getting top 5 or 7 inches ever recorded. 45 mph gusts. Absolutely not forecast like this. Been following the available weather every day.

That’s irrelevant tho. You cannot ask a city and volunteers to “set aside” two full days and we’ll tell you later.

Every model prior to yesterday afternoon had 2 inches of rain, which is a lot. Well yesterday afternoon all those models went to 5-6 inches of rain in central Sacramento. I don't know how to explain this...but an inch of rain in a 12 hour period is considered a lot, two inches a lot. I've never been in 6 inches of rain, that's more like a hurricane.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I have been through it living in the New Orleans area. It’s a lot of rain and the cancellation was the right thing to do. If todays forecast looked sketchy 2 weeks ago, then deciding then to move the race up a day would have allowed the race to go on.

That’s something I don’t understand. Yesterday afternoon the forecast was already 5 to 7 inches of rain, 45mph winds. How could Ironman think a race was possible? Wishing the storm would decide to turn around last minute? In their message they say conditions worsened overnight, but yesterday’s predicted conditions were already screaming race cancelation.
Agree with an earlier comment; IM race is a premium event...until difficult decisions have to be made. Same thing happened at 70.3 New Orleans several years ago; it was a typhoon or something like that heading to the course, yet race was only cancelled at 7am. I’m sure there’s a reason other than wishful thinking, I just don’t know what it is.

I think like everything they pushed the decision to the very end, in part because a Force Majeure clause decision in a contract requires Force Majeure. So you can't pull the plug until local authorities tell you it's done. Based on when they made the decision to cut the amateur race bike to one lap that was based on the majority of the weather system doing it's dump in the afternoon. Pro Race was still going to be the full course. But that clearly changed overnight, saw a video from transition this morning at 6AM...let's just say it was a lot of rain.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I read this October 13th but didn't want to be the negative nelly. This was forecasted even before this thread started. That said, weather can be unpredictable. Usually this time of year is absolutely gorgeous. Right now it is literally raining sheets outside my window! Maybe I would trail run in this but certainly not swim or cycle! NFL fans may see just how bad it is tonight for SNF (Colts vs. Santa Clara Niners).

https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/storm-Northern-California-rain-end-wildfire-season-16529674.php

Several days before the weekend I was seeing articles in my newsfeed announcing a "bomb cyclone" in the Northwest and Northern California. (WTF is a bomb cyclone??) And I am on the east coast so it was considered a major weather event for it to pop up on my phone. Sometimes the media is a bit dramatic but in this case it sounds like IM made the right call. I am so sorry for everyone effected. What a huge bummer. I hope athletes effected will get free entry in to next year's event or another IM. They already lost so much $ in travel/accommodations.

---

Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Oh ok, thanks, that would definitely explain it if it’s contract related.

I noticed a number of pro bikes were missing from transition early this morning. Frodeno’s looked lonely there (if not for the volunteer guarding it!). I guess some of them knew?

The rain at that point was manageable, mostly. My Flo wheels have a LOT of water in them from just a few hours rain

The wind gusts were something else. And that was protected in town. Much of the course is exposed farmland. You should see some photos of downed trees on the course.

No way is it impossible, just unprecedented (but again, look at the Eddie on Oahu's North Shore, which draws top surfers from the entire world and thousands of spectators when conditions are right) . In fact, I think it might be a requirement in the future. Cancelled races are bad experiences for racers and - I'm guessing - pretty financially devastating for the company. How many can they cancel before they're forced to innovate?

I think like everything they pushed the decision to the very end, in part because a Force Majeure clause decision in a contract requires Force Majeure. So you can't pull the plug until local authorities tell you it's done. Based on when they made the decision to cut the amateur race bike to one lap that was based on the majority of the weather system doing it's dump in the afternoon. Pro Race was still going to be the full course. But that clearly changed overnight, saw a video from transition this morning at 6AM...let's just say it was a lot of rain.


Heavy rain. Cool to cold temperatures, and high winds - Pick two and you may be good to go. All three at the same time - forget it!

There is something in the DNA of Race Directors - they are always wanting to put the race on. Coming up with plan after plan to make it happen. The really good ones have contingency plans reafy to g for various scenerios.

I once Announced at an Olympic Distance Triathlon where when we showed up in the morning it was monsoon like rain and high winds - fortunately it was reasonably warm 18C - 19C degrees. First they cancelled the swim because of the waves - it was crazy rough. Then they decided to cancel the bike - flooding on parts of the bike course. And then, they had me Announce if any one wants to we will hold a 5km running race - which they did and for the several hundred who hung around - that's what they did!

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

a surf event doesn't involve closing 112+26 miles of road with thousands of volunteers

its a huge endeavor

Everyone's like "why did they wait till race morning"

Well if they did it five days ago, you'd see just as many posts going on about "how can the cancel so early? Why not wait until race day to see if the forecast if correct?"

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

doesn't the eddie have something like 2 dozen competitors? paddling in on one break? different altogether.

---

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Has he been granted his GC or as he just applied? The travel rules could be different in the time frame between applying for the green card and it being granted.