‘It was carnage’ says experienced Ironman

AN experienced Ironman competitor from West Cork has described last week’s Ironman swim, in which two men died, as ‘carnage.’

Maybe experienced swimmers could deal with it,’ he told The Southern Star, ‘but inexperienced swimmers, no. The swim should have been pulled. It should have been cancelled straight away.’

He pointed out that there was a delay of about 45 minutes, and that the organisers were saying it was due to technical difficulties.

‘I didn’t know what was happening,’ he said. ‘Nobody should have been sentinto the sea that morning,’ said the Ironman competitor, who asked not to be named.

‘I know from talking to people who didn’t even go into the water, and those who went in, there was nobody who was happy with that swim. Everyone saw the videos, and the outcome.

‘There were breaking waves every five or six seconds.If you could get through four or five of them, by the time you got to the sixth the break had gone out of the water. There would be a swell there, a roll, but no break.’

The competitor said he got to the third break, two or three times, and each time it put him back onto the beach.

‘It was like this huge monster just throwing people back onto the beach. The thing about being spat out,’ he said, ‘is that when the tide goes back out, you are sucked back in then again.

‘You are blown back and just as you attempt to stand you go the other way – it’s really scary. The third time it blew me back I actually landed on my feet. I could feel sand underneath my legs.I was still in the water up to my chest,’ he recalled, ‘and I said to myself, I am out of here.’

The problem then, he said, was that he could not get out.

‘It kind of sucks you back in, so eventually I got out the way I got in, which is contrary to what you are advised to do.

‘You are supposed to lie on your back and a kayaker will come to you.’ But he didn’t believe a kayaker would reach him, so he got out himself.

‘I struggled to get back to my point of entry,’ he said, ‘and I was faced with swimmers coming towards me who were starting their swim.

‘There I was, trying to get back and people were swimming over you, and you are swimming over them, and there are still swimmers being spat back to the beach – it was mayhem.’

There is to be an investigation into the event and contradictory claims by Triathlon Ireland that they had not approved the event, while the organisers, Ironman, are claiming that recommendation came after the event had started.

Meanwhile, Cork County Council, as host sponsor, said it will need a full report before considering renewing its sponsorship arrangement.