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If we cannot proyect our contestants, this event should end right now. This is not the first time an athlete was in trouble. Who needs a triathlon anyway?
FJG JR, you sound like you dont know much about this at all and are simply trying to be negative.
God bless the poor guy and his family. From my perspective of growing up along the river my entire life, the last thing I would want to do is swim there. We had a raft that we built and a friend of mine jumped off the raft about 4 feet from shore and came up with his foot mangled. Here he jumped on a mangled car door.
When "the more than 20 lifeguards in kayaks" and other Philadelphia Triathlon LLC assets can't effectively monitor "about 100 other triathletes in the second-to-last wave of competitors" there is a dramatic defect in program safety and security. How else do you explain a dead contestant and Philadelphia Triathlon LLC's inability to rescue an in-trouble competitor?
Maybe the poor guy had a problem with the heat and, when he entered the water had a heart attack, or some other problem that caused him to drown. Yesterday was very hot. People die every day!
OMG this is tragic. Are there safety plans in place. I understand the micro-chip, but that didn't work, whats next - - one kayak one competitor etc...Oops that did not work either!
How come the lifeguards on the beaches at the shore do not have any problem watching hundreds of swimmers...
Could did the 90-100 degree weather play a role in his collapse? Sooo horrible, my prays go out to the family.
I was part of this race on Saturday. Ever since hearing about what happened I have tried to figure out how this could have happened. If distressed the athletes are told to stop swimming and wave their swim cap. I am sure that if another athlete saw the individual in trouble they would have stopped to help. This all leads me to believe something very sudden must have happened.
I just keep the family in my thoughts.
I'm assuming that the 20 lifeguards were split up among all the different waves, or were spread out thoughout the river. It's not like all 20 were following these 100 participants.
Life is filled with risk. Let the athletes decide if it is safe to them. The athlete was probably more likely to die driving to the event then participating in it. Hopefully they will find out what happened to him and get more answers.
All that effort for someone stoking his ego...the volunteers for these events should be volunteering for people that need it...like inner city kids, not elitist ego driven, athletes...extreme anything is selfish and stupid.
sparkyk86, I'm curious. I'm a swimmer, but I've never participated in an open-water race. How crowded are these groups? It's so murky in that water. Do swimmers bang up against each other and if so, is it possible someone kicked this fellow in the head without realizing it?
Sorry to hear this. I am so tired at the end of the work week, I can't relate to people who feel the need to be triathletes. Live longer....don't do a triathalon in 90 degree humid weather, swimming in the Schuylkill. By the way I guess I'm fortunate to have employment that involves physical activity. That's my "workout".
can't trust those waters
Maybe some of you should know something about triathlon before commenting. Racers train for long periods of time to compete in these events, but there is always an assumed risk when you get in the water. We all know it, and we train for months but sometimes accidents just happen. There is no one to blame for this sad event, we really don't know why this swimmer was in distress. And the hundreds of volunteers that help put this event on, choose to do this because they love it. And they are VOLUNTEERS - they can choose what ever they want to do, it doesn't have to be for city kids. The race directors do all they can to make these events safe, but sometimes something like this happens. It has nothing to do with trialthlon, so don't blame the event or race directors. Or maybe in stead of training for races and staying fit, we should join the rest of the philly population and sit on our asses and get fat.
There are on average 100 swimmers per wave. The water is not murky at all, you can usually see many of the swimmers around you and a few feet down into the water. I have done races in other rivers and lakes and this is actually my favorite swim location. The water is great for racing.
This event raises money for CHOP, which one poster maybe doesn't know is the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP does serve inner city kids, in fact, it serves all kids in world really. If there is a childhood illness that requires a world renown specialist, almost every day you see family coming into to CHOP for their care from all over the world. Is there a better charity to work toward?
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