Interesting but not exactly triathlon related. Wrong forum maybe?

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

It's where the swim takes place for Ironman Arizona...…

I thought some who frequent the forum and have done the race or might be familiar with the location might be interested.

OK, my bad. Never raced IM Arizona.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

I definitely didn't have (IMAZ Burns Down) on my 2020 disaster Bingo card.

Yikes, what a gnarly scene that is!

I wonder what impacts this will have on the water quality of the lake. I mean this generally,of course (is the lake water utilized for anything? I don't live there to know and am too lazy to research) but since this is a tri forum, for future IMAZ or other race swims. One article mentioned hazardous materials, even if none from the train are leaking, firefighting materials can be hazardous not to mention the bridge materials collapsing into the lake and/or possibly being melted...

Even if not for this year (since yes it's possible this year imaz will be cancelled), those type of impacts can persist for years after an incident. Not a professional in this regard just something that came to mind when I saw this story.

This was the location for the NCAA women's championships in mid-November (that were postponed until the spring of 2021). It's where USAT's age group draft legal nationals are to be held in mid-November. It's also where Super League was supposed to be held in May.

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

They said nothing was leaking. The water isn’t technically a lake. It’s runoff from the Salt River and fills from rainwater upstream. If there is too much rain the day before a race, the swim gets cancelled due to high bacteria.

The water runs in one end and out the other a lot of the year. It can also be emptied and filled (IMAZ 2010)

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

A couple of things, the bridge collapse was not into the lake. The only thing that burned on the bridge over the lake was rail cars loaded with plywood. Where the bridge collapsed is actually on the run course on Rio Salado Pkwy. It's on the bike and run course for 70.3

The location of the NCAA Championship and College Club Championships for the swim is further east. NCAAs in fact takes place on the north side of the lake. But the bike course also.

As far as the water is concerned, if Tempe tests it and there's a problem they will drain it well before October and it will refill.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Any reason to hope IMAZ happens this year? What’s the local scuttlebut?

Spare me the litany of “all races will be cancelled, you fool”

Our triathlete Senator has told me numerous times it’s not happening. I’m going with that. If it does somehow happen.... I’ll decide then.

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

The bad is if they have to drain the swamp to rebuild the bridge and possibly remove the train that burnt? This is a major freight train line BTW. I was holding out hope AZ would take place but I think this might be another nail in the 2020 race calendar.

Probably the only thing that could make that water even murkier and grosser.

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

Funny

Seeing is how 2020 is going, you would’ve thought this would happen days before IMAZ

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

In ‘10 the dam burst in summer. They finally refilled it the week before the race

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

i have heard a rumor that all 2020 races will be cancelled fairly soon

Which one :P


No idea. Bridge is pretty old, the only reason they'd do that is if they were going to remove and build a new one. The damage to the bridge is on land. If they actually did so, this would take a significant amount of time, guessing six months at least. But there would need to be planning, permits and all that. Guessing that this IMAZ in a normal year would still happen, but a future one would probably be under threat to not happen.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

wait, you have a direct line of personal communication to a United States Senator and have had multiple conversations with her about this topic recently?

Yes, she is a Triathlete and very active in the community.

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

I'm aware of who she is. But are you referring to public statements (or those otherwise made in her official capacity as a senator) she has made, or personal non-public conversations you had with her as an acquaintance? You can understand my skepticism regarding the latter which is why it was pink. Public statements and private convos are very different things.

The statements have been made on a public social media platform and in person convos

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

Got links for statements made from her likely personal page on this public social media platform?


There's a difference between perhaps say her gut feeling, versus her putting leverage on the various jurisdictions that have permitted this race. That would be something called corruption. But if ti's just her gut feeling then it's her gut feeling.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

No links, and this is personal. She wouldn’t want it cancelled, as she would race it also I’m sure. So It’s not trying to do anything deceitful, it’s her having access to more information than the rest of us, and nudging us in the direction of “don’t bother training for this race”

But like I said, anything can happen, however EVERY SINGLE EVENT has been cancelled. Is this really going out on a limb.

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

So looking back at the history of the light rail, construction on the Tempe Light Rail bridge began in 2004 and wasn't completed until December of 2006. And That's with planning on that bridge starting as soon as 2001.

So if Union Pacific makes the assessment that they need to build a completely new Bridge, the construction timeline for a heavy bridge being a bit slower, we'd lose at least one IMAZ season I'd say. This is beer math, I'm not an engineer or a dude that tries to get building permits.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

WOOOAAAAH THERE HORSEY.
We've got 2 triathlons (a sprint and a half) + and a long lake swim that I'll be at which are confirmed as ON here in the next 8 weeks. In England.
😎