Stephen Del Monte, race director of DelMoSports, posted this video asking parents to not sign up their kids for a particular race (whose swim is in the Atlantic Ocean) if their child is not on a swim team. Kudos to him.
I wish he did the same for adults…
Stephen Del Monte, race director of DelMoSports, posted this video asking parents to not sign up their kids for a particular race (whose swim is in the Atlantic Ocean) if their child is not on a swim team. Kudos to him.
I wish he did the same for adults…
Meh. I disagree. Swim deaths are so rare in triathlon for the # of participants that it wouldn’t increase safety significantly by having some stringent adult-swim perfomance rule. Aduts (not kids) pretty much never die in the swim leg because they were so incompetent in the water that they drowned. Sure, lots of people get pulled from the water or can’t finish, but that doesn’t increase the # of deaths out there at all, which are almost all due to underlying medical issues.
For kids, it’s a different story though - their judgment is not the same as that of an adult and there’s a lack of data as to how safe/risky triathlon swimming is for them in OW, so makes sense to be on the safer side. Doesn’t in any way mean that adults doing OWS are taking on undue risk though, and the statistics clearly bear this out.
I don’t do pink font.
I don’t do pink font.
Heh heh. Pink font taken.
What’s being on a swim team have to do with being able to swim? Request should be related to ability to swim or not.
Some swim teams have pretty low minimum standards to join for the slower lanes/groups… like swimming 2 lengths of the pool non-stop. Some tend to be more inclusive, rather than exclusive.
The requirement should be “capable of swimming __ distance within ___ time”. If you have a time cut-off and pull kids at the 1/2 way point of that cut-off, it will be an incentive to make sure they are ready for the event and are adequate swimmers.
Hey all…this is a such a touchy subject in our sport. My belief is with kids only (right now). I was not a swimmer, I was a team sports kid and learned all of the disciplines of triathlon independently (post high school). My contention lies with parents who are willing to sign up their child (yes, Child) to do a triathlon that places them in an open body of water. Remember, you can slow down on the bike and walk on the run, but there is no substitute for NOT swimming.
I’m the father of 2 small children…there is NO WAY I would allow them to do a race unless I am 100% positive they have the skill set, both mentally and physically, to complete the event.
I guess the whole point of the video was me thinking of my kids and then saying “Hey, are you sure people?” More of a parent than an RD on that video…
I think it’s a step in the right direction, although not a sure solution. Stephen is a great guy and puts on some of the best races on the East Coast. This is for sure a touchy subject, but ever since I’ve started triathlons 5 years ago and coming from a swimming background (college swimmer), I’ve seen and heard to many death or near death experiences. I do believe there needs to be some standard in place for adults when it comes to the swim. Most of the time it is simply that the swimmer may be able to swim the required distance in the pool, but they are a weak swimmers and when you put them into an open water swim w/ other people knocking you around they panic and from there is all down hill. I don’t know what the solution is because if you make a statement such as “You must have prior OWS experience”, we all know people are just going to lie
For kids, I agree. For adults, I still think we should require some certification the adult can swim the distance. Middle aged males think they can do anything… And are often wrong.
-Robert
Adults also have to take the responsibility to recognize where their training has come short and make a tough/mature decision. Before last year’s Escape the Cape Triathlon, I posted a video explaining to athletes that if they weren’t ready to complete the swim they could defer (without penalty) into 2014…you would be AMAZED at how many athletes emailed and called saying “Oh thank you so much, I’m just not ready!” Yet, if we didn’t do a video, would they have raced? Would they have gone into the water and risked it all? Scary. Additionally, when I’m standing up there I can see it in some of the athletes faces that they are nervous, anxious, or just plain scared. This is why we make it a point to explain to athletes “You don’t have to swim…feel free to skip this part and get on you bike, you still get a finisher medal and all of the post race amenities…this is NOT the Olympics.” And without fail, there are a few that take us up on that claim.
have kids died in triathlon swims?
I think it’s kind of BS. I took all the Red Cross swimming lessons and was recruited by an AG team when I was in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. I could out swim all the kids in my age division but i quit after a week. I hated swim team. I loved swimming. There might be exceptions like me, probably not a lot, but I just wasn’t a competitive kid and hated that part of it and there are probably some out there like me.
But again, have kids died in the swim?
My kids will continue lessons and have plenty of pool time, but I doubt they will ever be on a swim team because of cost. Putting them in an OWS tri is a long way off, and I can understand the RD’s perspective. But it could be problematic because of cost or availability of teams.