Another heart attack undoubtedly. 66 year old male just before the end of the swim.
thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
I heard this yesterday but hoped it was a race-day rumour that got out of hand.
So very sad. My thoughts are with the family.
Very sorry to hear about this. My prayers go out to the family.
I have always wondered if the human heart only has so many beats in a life time and with all of the heart issues that are popping up with endurance athletes, I wonder if all of this exercise at such a high level compared to the norm is damaging our hearts.
Very sad news.
Does anyone know who is responsible for swim safety protocols at IM events?
Over 2600 seems like an extremely large number of athletes - is this the
largest group ever at IMC? thx
I hadn’t heard this at all yesterday. What a terrible thing. My condolences to the family of this man.
And for clarification: The name of the gentleman who died has not been released. Barry’s signature is that he (Barry) is a 23 time IM guy, not the person who died.
What a tragedy.
Thanks for the clarification, I thought Barry the 23X Im finisher had died.
Hy heart goes out to the family and yes, I am still alive. Barry
The name of the deceased and other info is now posted online.
My thoughts and prayers to the family.
The swim was canceled on Saturday and Sunday in Cobourg. The RD was very concerned that a rescue of a distressed swimmer would be very difficult if not dangerous. He consulted with the life guards and medical crew on site, even waited to see if the lake would calm down. There is always a large number of novice athletes at that weekend event. I noticed that no one went for a recreational swim either day to prove a point.
John tried to (and did not miss many) meet every finisher at the line both days to allow them the opportunity to address him directly.
Rickeh
I don’t know how this particular death occurred, but there is another potentially fatal malady that can strike triathletes (and divers and other swimmers) during the swim, Swimming-Induced Pulmonary Edema (aka SIPE). It’s when the capillaries in your lungs leak fluid, including blood, into your alveoli. This reduces your lung capacity greatly- akin to “drowning from the inside”. It can be caused by a combination of cold-water induced vasoconstriction, increased cardiac output (ie. exercising), overhydration, and the compressive force on your body displacing water. These factors “squeeze” the excess fluid from your bloodstream into your lungs. There have been numerous articles written on it recently. A good source for more info on SIPE be found here: http://www.endurancetriathletes.com/sipe.html
Had this once myself and can tell you it’s scary! Fortunately I was able to get back to shore before a full-blown inability to breathe.
John Salt is a true prince of a man. We are so lucky to have him as the race director of the HSBC Multisport Canada series in Ontario.
When you can’t get the motorized boats out to set the marker buoys due to the 5-6’ swells, there is no way you should be sending out swimmers.
As John said, “I am making this decision based on the WEAKEST swimmer, not the AVERAGE swimmer.”
And, “I cannot leave it up to the athletes themselves to decide if they are capable of swimming in rough waters.”
And finally, “I do not EVER want to have to phone a family and tell them that their athlete has died in our event.”
He still got hassled by certain athletes but he made the RIGHT decision.
Thank you, John.
My problem is water goes straight through my nose into my throat and when I breathe it goes into my lungs. It definately kills your lung capacity. I get to the point where i can’t even breathe to the point of expanding my lungs I am more or less just swallowing air. Interesting to see others have this problem as well.
Like cancelling the swim at IMNZ in 2006. Correct decision, so they didn’t have to scoop bodies out of the water. The rest of the solution however (1/2 bike. 1/2 run) wasn’t nearly as well considered as the cancellation of the swim.
Regardless of what some athletes think, it’s better to keep ones powder dry, and fight another day, that to die today!
The problem you’re experiencing sounds different, where you are actually inhaling the water, vs. SIPE, where the water is already “in you” (your bloodstream) and it leaks into your lungs. With SIPE, there’s fluid in your lungs that wasn’t inhaled but rather got there from the capillaries in the lungs.
But it sounds as though your problem could also have dire consequences as well, esp. on a long swim such as an Ironman- I’d ask an expert (maybe a swim coach if it’s technique-related, or your GP if you suspect you have some type of physiological problem…)
Good luck!
I’ve posted a lot about this after the 2 deaths in Wisconsin. I, Trey (on this forum) and one more person have been working on SIPE for over a year now and recently had a paper accepted for publication in a medical journal. Trey has also been talking to the medical examiners involved.
Yet, many here remain convinced that the deaths are ‘heart attacks’ and only involve beginners when data show that this isn’t the case.
That said, the causes of SIPE are still unclear. What you list are possible factors, rather than well established causes.
The Penticton Herald will most likely publish more information in the next day or so. There could be a series of factors that are revealed over time rather than a singular cause for the IM Canada death.
They won’t have much to reveal at this stage given it will take a few more days to have the report from the ME if an autopsy were to be done.