I went home to visit my parents in Florida this weekend and was explaining to my grandparents the details of the Disney half ironman in May. I was joking how I was scared about alligators in the water. I was only joking but now I am seriously freaked out. I mentioned how alligators are allegedly scared of people and there have been very few fatalities. My mother then piped in with a story about how just a few weeks ago a guy was eaten by an alligator when he pulled over with a flat tire and he was very close to a body of water. Apparently an alligator just came up and ate the guy. Then last year a guy was killed when he went into body of water to get his golf ball. So, I know, if I stay on course and with lots of other swimmers the alligators probably won’t mess with those people but I always have a tendency to go way off course. So my question is, what, if anything, is or can be done to keep alligators from going after swimmers during a triathlon? I mentioned this fear to my coach (who is here in Chicago where I live now and unfamiliar with alligators) and he reassured me by saying “They put a fence up.” Umm, I know a fence didn’t keep an alligator out of a neighbor’s pool once so it isn’t going to help keep them out of a giant lake.
Don’t be the first swimmer into the water and don’t be the last out! 
At a local race in Orlando 2005 a triathlete lost 4 fingers from an alligator bite. I would be careful swimming if Florida. In fact stay away, it is to dangerous. The sharks are even worse…
Take it from someone who lives here, you are in a lot more danger driving to the race.
With that many people in the water you will not see an alligator. They want nothing to do with that kind of madness.
I did Disney last year and had a pretty good swim. I was also afraid of Gaytiz and then the gun goes off and you forget. But then something that’s never happened in a race happened, I was all alone! And seriously, I was scared…but there are boats out there to protect you…
…after the first few bites.
If you are in a pack just make sure you stay in the pack…
“stay on course with lots of other swimmers…”
Real smart, drowning. Gators learn the swim course beforehand, and they can follow the buoys better than you.
I hope you are right. That story about someone loosing 4 fingers in 2005 in Orlando certainly isn’t making me feel better.
Did the USTS race some place near Howey-in-the-hills FL in 98 or 99. Saw a couple of alligators swimming in the lake the day before. I wasn’t worried because none of the local racers seemed remotely concerned. The race went off without a hitch. I figure that it’s one of those things where you’re always going to hear isolated reports, but you’re gonna be far far more likely to die in a traffic accident on the way to the race than to be bit by an alligator.
I hope you are right. That story about someone loosing 4 fingers in 2005 in Orlando certainly isn’t making me feel better.
I’m pretty sure JA is pulling your leg. Since he/she lives in Florida, probably just doesn’t want the competition. The stories you provided in your original post sound like urban legend to me. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, just enough to make sure you have a fast swim split :)!
Chris
SANIBEL, Fla. - A woman mauled by a 12-foot alligator died in surgery Friday, WBBH-TV reported.
Janie Melsek, a landscaper, was attacked behind a home on Wednesday. The 54-year-old woman was dragged into a pond before a neighbor and police officers yanked her from the animal’s jaws.
Part of Melsek’s right arm had to be amputated. She also was severely bitten on her buttocks and thighs. She was undergoing additional surgery Friday morning at Lee Memorial Hospital when she died.
Melsek was trimming a tree when the alligator lunged at her and grabbed her arm. “The lady was in the pond and the alligator had hold of her and just her face was showing,” a neighbor, Jim Anholt, told The News-Press of Fort Myers.
“It was kind of a tug-of-war,” said Anholt, who held Melsek’s neck to keep her head above water as three Sanibel police officers tried to get her out of the pond.
Rescuers struggled for about five minutes to get her away from the alligator. When she came free, medical workers began treating her on the shore.
Police later shot the alligator in the head. It took six men to lift the 12-foot, 3-inch animal to shore.
The Associated Press contributed
I hope you are right. That story about someone loosing 4 fingers in 2005 in Orlando certainly isn’t making me feel better.
Hey, he still had his middle digit so I am sure his ability to drive in downtown Miami was not impaired.
Very nice! Good get!
I live in South Georgia, and routinely share open water swims with alligators (I’ve never seen one where I swim, but I have seen them in the lake before). You’re in no danger during a race. A gator isn’t going to stick around when several hundred (or thousand) swimmers jump in for a triathlon swim. Alligators are actually very shy and retreating. The reports you hear about gators attacking people stem from alligators that have lost their fear of people, usually from people feeding the gators from docks, yards, etc. Those alligators are the real threats. Wild ones try to stay away from people as much as possible. There is no need to worry about a gator attack in a triathlon.
RP
Look, The fact is there are alligators everywhere there is water in the state of Florida. You will be fine. There is a triathlon every weekend in FLA every summer. People do not get bitten… You do have a much better shot of being hit by a Drunk Driver on the way to the race…
People do not get bitten…
Care to revise your statement there, Mr. Optimist?
That is great, love the hills!
There really was a gator about 4 foot long swim though the clydesdale wave at the Downtown ORL tri last year. Poor thing got the hell beat out of him. I was guarding and thought I would have to save the little guy!
Bah! How many alligators are that big in Florida? Aren’t they hunting them for sport/food again anyways ;-)!
I live in Central Floriduh, seriously they are around a lot of the water areas here, but I have never seen one during a Tri event.
Don’t worry, they always single out the weakest looking prey in the group.
That’s exactly why I’m worried!