I wonder how many Triathletes are killed, or die every year in the course of training/racing.
During the summer it seems that there is a thread a week about someone being killed on the bike, and this is the second confirmed death that I have heard of in a race in the three years I’ve been competing.
I know it may sound a litte crass, but sometimes I wonder if I would be better off on a crab boat in the Bearing Sea.
I don’t know if I really want to know, but does anybody know the mortality rate for a Triathlete?
Over the last 15 or so years, I can think of 5 races where someone has died and I can think of about 7 or 8 cyclists that I knew who died after being struck by cars. I can think of another 8-9 or so who have been hit but are ok.
riding bikes on roads = dangerous. even if there’s a shoulder/bike path, it’s pretty silly. think about it, you’re on a 20 pound piece of aluminum and driving about a foot away from somebody reading email on their blackberry while driving a 3,000 pounds piece of metal moving three times your speed. If you add in the road rage / lycra hatah’ factor its just about as bad as riding a motorcycle on the street (which mothers everywhere regard as amazingly dumb, but riding a bicycle on the street is ‘healthy’)
that being said, it’s more enjoyable than dangerous. I’m not gonna stop. Make yourself visible and ride on…
Keep in mind we’re a VERY small niche community, and seem to KNOW everything that’s happening in our sport. Think of how many people participate in tris, plus train for it…
Still, I was hit by a FedEx truck last summer, and am still having a very difficult time riding outside, psychologically. Spend alot of time on the Computrainer.
I’ve seen a small # of athletes who have died at a race due to unknown heart problems, etc. This could happen anywhere, I’d guess. We had an athlete pass away after Mooseman this year, while out having dinner with his wife, that night. Horrible. He had a heart condition…
This is tragic stuff, but I wouldn’t neccessarily say it’s due to triathlon. My brother in Law’s good friend just passed away 2 days ago, went in for a nap and didn’t wake up. She was 36.
I guess the moral of the story is, just do what you love to do. We never know when it’s our time. Still, be safe!!!
People are afraid to fly because it’s strange to them and they have the idea that it’s “unsafe”, yet they’ll get in their cars and drive with no fear like complete idiots. You are FAR more likely to die in a car accident than in a plane crash.
I don’t know the exact numbers but I just can’t even imagine that dieing in a race is anywhere NEAR as dangerous as dieing in a car accident.
I know that there are a lot of other things that one could do, or that one does, that have greater risk of death - like driving a car, but I drive a car, and fly, and race in Tri.
My point was more along the lines that you don’t hear of a lot of death in some other activities. I mean how many serious (think full year of trianing, having participated in more than their first race) triathletes are there out there? 50K?
There are a lot more competitive basketball players out there and you rarely hear of one of them tipping over.
Yeah, I guess you are a lot more likely to get run over by a truck in tris than basketball. When comparing tris to other sports I would say it is definitely more dangerous. In other sports deaths are usually related to heart conditions. Still, I think tris are relatively safe compared to other activities we engage in daily.
My point was more along the lines that you don’t hear of a lot of death in some other activities.<<
And do you sit all day in front of the computer on the message boards for those other activities? Just because you don’t hear of them doesn’t mean they do not occur.
