There have only been about 2,000 people who have swum the channel ever, adding the other two events puts it in rare territory. And the Arc to Arch has only recently been a thing.

Sad news, for sure.

Interestingly, the last previous swimmer to die during an English Channel swim, during the 2016 season, was 45-year-old Nick Thomas. Nick was one of the just 25 athletes to have successfully completed the Enduroman Arc to Arch challenge, in 2014....complete with (wetsuit-aided) English Channel swim. He returned to swim the Channel again last year, sans wetsuit, and died within a stone's throw of the French shore.

Like Waymark who died this past weekend, Thomas was an outstanding triathlete and endurance athlete, more generally.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...ing-second-time.html

Thoughts and prayers to Waymark's family.

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Larry Creswell
http://www.athletesheart.org, @athletesheart

Wow,

But this is at least partially an omission of the crew(s) to make tough decisions.

I know that's not fair and harsh (life in generally isn't),
but a crew has to sometimes literally yank an athlete out of the water before it is too late.

I have been there when somebody got uncoordinated and confused and got pulled JUST in time to prevent serious consequences (athlete barely pulled through)

My heart goes out to family and crew.

I guess if it were easy everyone would do it.

Don't get me wrong, it is very sad that an athlete died while doing what he probably loved most, or at least a lot. But when I read in the article "Enduroman tweeted he was given painkillers" I wonder if taking painkillers is the right thing to get you through a tough challenge. I do not want to judge this case, I have no insight and I do not want to be indiscreet shortly after the incident. It is more a general remark: Should you not stop doing your race/exercise if you cannot do w/o painkillers? Obviously, your body is telling you that you are going to far...

Just look at the tracker pic of his swim in the referenced article.

Looking at that, would you let somebody continue?

There might be reasons for the abstruse changes of direction. Sure, it seems odd that someone would try to get back to where he started. But we are not here to judge the mental state. According the article, the physical trouble came suddenly. I probably would agree to any conclusion you might draw from the given information. But that is probably not our call in such a tragic case...

Did you know Nick Thomas? I met a guy called Nick Thomas at Ironman Lanzarote 1999. I just wondered if it was one and the same? I think he raced Ironman Lanzarote in 1998 as well and 45 would have been about the right age for him.

Really sad indeed. I didn't see it in the article. Does anyone know what ultimately leads to the death in these individuals who attempt to do theses long distance swims? Hypothermia or electrolyte imbalance or pneumonia or something else?

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Matt

I think in the case of this race in particular, the list of what could have been the culprit is really long. Swimming the English Channel after running 87 miles nonstop? I can only imagine what kind of trauma the body is going through at that point. You have to be a ninja-caliber endurance wizard to pull that off. This is exactly the reason most triathlons have the swim first.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

No, Barlow, I didn't know Nick Thomas. You may be right about the IM race.

Regarding the comments about Waymark's apparently wayward track during his swim....

Swimming the Channel is like swimming (21 miles) across a swift river where the direction of flow changes every 6 hours with the tide. The tidal effects in the Channel are huge (20-foot tides in Dover) and produce currents of several mph in each direction, carrying swimmers far from a straight-line course. Waymark's track was very typical.

On Monday, the day of Waymark's death, there were 3 successful Channel swims, in good conditions with ~17C water temperature--two solo swimmers and one 3-person relay, finishing in between 10 and 15 hours.

One observation about the reporting about Waymark's death....

As with Waymark, I know of a handful of triathlon swimming deaths where the victim first reported feeling bad and then subsequently died. The important lesson may be to remember to STOP at the first sign of a medical difficulty.

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Larry Creswell
http://www.athletesheart.org, @athletesheart

I know a guy called Nick Thomas who did the triple enduroman and the double ironman at Lanzarote i 2009. He never swam the channel though - he works for endurance store as one of the coaches. Met him on the level 3 BTF course a few years ago - pretty sure he never swam the channel though. f

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Are there any particular symptoms that you would say could let you know there is something seriously wrong while racing? Because to be honest in ultra racing if you stop whenever you feel bad you wouldn't be able to finish a single race.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Very sad.

I'm also curious about the cause of death.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

The problem is that ultra-endurance athletes have learned to push extremely far into the red zone and ignore the signs that most normal people would definitely quit for. I hate to quote Armstrong, but he said something about not going into the doctor for what ended up being cancer-related pain because he was in pain all the time anyway from being a pro cyclist. When I went into the hospital with full-blown rhabdo and needing two bags of IV fluid, they were shocked that I was walking and cracking jokes and had been to work three days already since my race. I felt bad, but not terrible. I had felt worse and lived, so why the big deal? Turns out it was a really big deal. http://www.webmd.com/...-causes-treatments#1

BTW, don't take ibuprofin during races. It fucks up your kidneys. That's what my issue was.

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----------------------------------------------------------
Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Good question, Chuy. I'm not sure I have all the answers here. Maybe you have other ideas to share.

I think that most experienced ultra racers will be very in tune with their bodies and realize when something's "not right." The worrisome signs might include:
1. Chest pain, pressure, or discomfort during exercise
2. Lightheadedness or nearly blacking out
3. Shortness of breath that is unusual or out of proportion
4. Fatigue that is unusual or out of proportion
5. Palpitations (a pounding heart).

Outside of a swimming pool with lifeguards, most swimming situations present some big challenges for rescue if a swimmer has a serious medical problem, yet alone cardiac arrest. The open water is not a forgiving setting for getting a medical problem sorted out....particularly if the problem occurs at any substantial distance from shore.

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Larry Creswell
http://www.athletesheart.org, @athletesheart