If you google "ironman israel facebook" and search through the first 3 entries, you'll see that IM's been replying to people over chat: "With deep sadness and concern, we closely follow what is happening. As of now, there have been no changes regarding the event, and of course if one were to cancel we would notify immediately."


If I were on the start list, I'd have been cancelling my trip now. Btw. generally no insurance covers war, so somebody will lose money:

• If IM cancels one their own too early, they'll be held legally responsible for refunds and event costs
• If local gov. instructs IM to cancel due to war, then probably IM cannot do much against the local gov., but at least they have an ass-saver
• If local gov. instructs IM to cancel due to logistics (e.g. no people, no water supply, cannot close roads, cannot provide security), then IM might stand a slightly stronger chance against the local gov. in e.g. negotiating cost coverage, postponement etc.

In any case of IM not taking the quick & bold decision & the financial impact, people on start list will hear as the last ones.

highly unlikely any mass event is taking place in israel for quite a while

Agree, don't see it happening.
The war in Gaza just started and will be a long one this time. Additionally, the north border is not quiet and may still escalate.
I imagine at some point IM will give option to defer to other races.

Can't see it going ahead, but the processes behind the scenes with IM will take a number of days at least to be able to make a decision as all the intricacies are worked through.
As others have said, travel insurance likely won't cover any of this as "war" is normally an exclusion.
Absolutely heartbreaking to follow all that is going on.

I was eyeing this event just 10 days ago, but it kind of overlaps with my company year end (Oct 31, event on Nov 3), so it was a stretch to head over. I had previously been to Israel 3x, spending time in Ashdod, Herzliya and Haifa on business. Currently my biz opportunity is in Haifa with a fairly major organization involved in the energy sector and some of my team were due to head over this week on a Canadian Govt Trade mission for next week . Like the IM Website, we have gotten zero news of the cancellation of the mission, but I can't send my employees into a war zone, and I am an ex military person myself, so my risk tolerance is high.

I do hope things calm down and life returns to a new degree of normal for all who are there in which sport can be practiced again. For me, when sport is possible with wars behind, that's a trailing indicator that a place has settled down.

UEFA has suspended football events for the near future, but it is still a month to IM Israel, and a lot can change. Sure international travellers may need to cancel now, but if an event can be held in Nov for locals in relative calm (it is all relative, here in Canada we never check into a hotel and get shown where the bomb shelter is) then why not.

I would like to send everyone involved my wishes. I am personally feeling a bit shell shocked by all of this given all my personal friends and biz associates over there.

I realize Frodeno wasn't planning to race the entire thing, and there are far more pressing matters at hand then getting to race.

But I swear this guy has had some of the worst race luck at the end of his career.

I can't imagine anyone wanting to travel to that event outside locals at this point. And even then, I'd assume locals would be pretty hesitant. For whatever it's worth, when I was in Israel, I felt some anxiety going in, but absolutely loved it and would go back in a heart beat. There were a few times I was reminded very clearly, that if things go bad right now, I'm in a very very bad situation and location, but I do prefer to trust in the goodness of my fellow man, even if it leaves us disappointed when we see things like we've seen the last few days.

  
Ironman sent this email to registered participants. It doesn't say anything but it implies they are working on it:

After the prior comment to yours, I'm almost surprised Ironman Israel didn't call for an end to Apartheid and the immediate dissolution of Israel and the removal of all Jews from the Middle East so the area could return to a paradise like the surrounding beacon of freedom states.

In fairness it was not Marco who made the comment about apartheid, but if we are using that gauge, and we look at what Canadians have done to the indegenous people in my country, we need to ask Ironman to ship out of here too. One could argue that Jews are the indegenous people of Israel, who pre date Islam, and Palestinians are the subsequent settlers before the influx of Jewish settlers after 1948, but in any case, my point is if Ironman has to pack up out of any place that have some apartheid leanings or mistreatment of certain groups of people, there would not be that many countries left to operate inside. All human societies have imperfect records and some degree of blood on their hands. Hopefully sport can be a bridge, not a further point of division.

Getting back on track, for obvious reasons, my biz engagement in Israel is delayed, so maybe at some point all stars align and I can take the trip over for work and do the race. I think it would be cool to do a swim in the Sea of Galilee just for historical significance reasons.

Tried to make that clear in my wording. But yes.

I've swam in Galilee. It was surprisingly choppy. The life guard was surprised to see me swimming so much against the current & waves and asked if I was an olympian and said he doesn't see people swim in it like that. Hah. Not even close, but it sured boosted the ego.

...hang on...Sea of Galilee is fresh water? The entire time I assume it was salt like Dead Sea !!!

World Aquatics have relocated their December race from Israel to Funchal https://www.worldaquatics.com/...mming-world-cup-2023

Races have been canceled. Which was the only decision that could be made.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One