Triathalon swim deaths 2008 rising. What is going on?

It is a stretch to say that cardiac issues are connected with swimming. You can have electrical failure while sleeping. Cardiac issues can be connected to stress (excitement, hypoxia, starting or stopping exercise), shock (cold water with insufficient prep time or insufficient acclimation), long exposure to cold temp, and so forth. When it happens in water you drown. VB

The story/issue is getting considerable press in the NY/NJ metro area. Two deaths in one week in tris and the gentlemen in NJ, it was his first tri and he was found by his family when they were holding a vigil for him lakeside that night. They saw the body floating. I cannot even imagine how horrible that must have been for them. The local newspapers wrote that the RD is not answering questions as to the qualifications of the guards he hired and leaving it to the investigation. So I am "guessing" that one is at hand. Someone posted under one of the newspaper articles that they did the race and the guards were just laying on their boards and the he almost swam right into one of them. That is just what was written--I have no idea of how true that is. I have been fortunate to have been in tris where the second I even stopped to regroup, a guard asked if I was ok. But, I have done those 2000-3000 plus people tris as well and I have no idea how anyone can see if you are in danger. I think there are a lot of forces that play a role in these unfortunate incidents. We may never know. And as someone said, we do assume some risk. But, I still think race size may make a difference. The NJ race doubled in size to 2,500 and the NYC tri went from 800 entries to 3000 plus....I have to believe it is hard for anyone to see if you are in danger in that washing machine of arms and bodies.

I've been doing triathlons since 2004, and OW swims since 2005, was a NCAA Div. I water polo player, so am pretty comfortable in the scrum, these are just random thoughts from having been in both OW swims (i.e. pier to piers with 800+ swimmers) as well as one IM swim start and 20 + other wave starts of one kind or another. I agree that most triathletes are poor swimmers. Not all, of course, but many most come from a running or biking background and add the swim on as an afterthought, thinking a 1/4 OW swim is equivalent to a 1/4 pool swim. Wetsuits - I am in California, so wetsuits and heating aren't an issue, if it's legal (and it always is) i wear it. For most OW swims, I don't. But people do rely on the wetsuit as a flotation device. A very tight fitting flotation device that can lead to panic itself. And anyone wearing a wetsuit in 80 degree water is asking for trouble. OWS vs. Tri swims. Frankly, I see no difference in behaviors in OW swims vs. tri swims (except for my placing, I am front of the pack tri swimmer, fast middle of the pack OW swimmer). I see the same flailing people in OW swims as I do in tri swims. The only time I was really challenged was in an OW swim, not a tri. The front of the pack is also the same, and as described, organized and disciplined. Jumping to conclusions - It is an assumption to say the people that passed away were underprepared. Perhaps they were, perhpas they were not. But there is no way to know, because as we all know OW swimming is unforgiving. You can coast on the bike. You can't coast the swim, and bad stuff happens to good swimmers. I was on my way to a close to sub 1:00 IM swim when I got an acute, completely disabling and unforeseen vertigo episode and had to be pulled from the water. I've got 800 scuba dives all over the world in all sorts of hairy conditions, lots of open ocean swims, this was the first time I seriously thought I was going to drown. It can happen, and if you don't think it can happen to you, you are mistaken. Regulations - We have a couple OW swims in Cal. that you have to "qualify", either submit proof of a certain time for a 3 miler ("proof" is used loosely), or a 500 yard checkout swim for a 2 miler, but in general I am against any "regulation." We have already lost a few OW swims in Cal. due to the requirements that there be a certain lifeguard to swimmer ratio (i have heard, this was before I started OWS). I would be against any regulations or requirements that places the responsibility to be ready for a tri on anyone but the triathlete. Perhaps this sounds callous, but as others have mentioned the ratio of deaths to participants is very low. The more people that do this, the more will get hurt, plain and simple. In California we do our swims in the open ocean, sometimes with pounding surf. I do note that none of the deaths have come from here, thank God. My condolences to the families. Having been pulled from the water in an IM and taken to medical, I can relate to the fear and worry of the family waiting on shore for news of the swimmer.

So here it is from today's NYTimes. What the article does not address is the incredible rise in entries. www.nytimes.com/.../28fitness.html I can run with the cardiac statement in the article. I have seen professional football players in their 20s and others collapse on field or in the locker room and die. Hmm, I can even remember a jr high cheerleader dying in her sleep of unknown causes. Anyway, the cardiac statement in the news article connects cardiac issues with swimming. I am assuming there are far more competitive swimmers in the country than there are triathletes. If it were indeed connected to swimming, would we not see a much higher rate of incident in pool swimmers and OW swimmers?

So here it is from today's NYTimes. What the article does not address is the incredible rise in entries. www.nytimes.com/.../28fitness.html

OK I love to blame all on the wet suit but thats a different thread. I think there is a very high level of race anxiety that may be at work here. I remember my first open water swim at Boulder Reservoir in Colorado almost 20 years ago now. Here I was a young guy just a few years out as a collegiant swimmer doing a two miler. I thought this would be nothing just something to do on a Saturday morning, man was I wrong. First race organizers probably underestimated the size of the event second the start was in a narrow confine between a dock and the beach and it required hard right turn after just 50 yards swum. Race start and 10 seconds later claustrophobic near panic starts to happen swimmers all around no space uuugggghhhhh! Needless to say I have become better prepared for these happenings over the years of doing La Jolla, Newport Beach, Waikiki but it's still hard, the heart races and I found the key is to get off that anaerobic rate back to a aerobic rate after a couple of hundred yards or so. As is common on this thread I wonder how many of these tri-athletes have prepared for this. When I coach and it's race pace/quality day, I get the same groans from the tri's just like on stroke day. All they want to do is the 15x100 for 4x500 etc. I always try to explain to them they need to do this anaerobic work as it simulates what the heart is doing at a typical race start. When were in the 50 meter configuration I will have them do three wide sprints and put two more swimmers right behind them and tell them to try to swim through etc. Ahhh I just can't help it. In regards to the wet suit, it's highly unlikely that that the sport of Triathlon would have grown this explosively without it. But it's a double edged sword, it gives a false sense of security as many of these swimmers simply would not be capable of doing these swims without it. It seems like common sense not to wear one if the water and air is warm but most race directors look the other way because if they were to say no on the wet suit there goes the event fee revenue. They did a triathlon a couple of years ago in Grand Junction, Colorado after about a week of high 90's and low hundreds. The lake was warm, and there was a rumor that the race director was going to ban wet suits but he nearly had a mutiny on his hands as many of the athletes stated they would demand a refund if that were to occur. So the race went on wet suits and all, many had early heat exhaustion that started on the swim, how ridiculous. Several friends of mind who were solid age group competitors, wanted to go without the wet suit but were afraid they get to far behind on the swim but later regretted the choice as some of them suffered early due to the heat.

Re: Cardiology. I am reading that more and more high schools and colleges are requiring their athletes to go through a 12 point cardiac health screening process, in order to prevent fatalities within their sport programs. The exam includes tasks such as listening for heart murmurs and checking the femoral pulse to exclude narrowing of the aorta. Even amongst these young athletes, these precautions are being introduced because though the death rate is "relatively low, it is more common than previously thought and does represent a substantive public health concern." Also note that the majority of the reported deaths that are occurring in sports are in basketball and football. The reason is they are "HIGH INTENSITY sports with HIGH LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION." It is therefore logical that triathletes in their 30s, 40s, 50s... who most likely are not having a 12 point cardiac health exam plus a recommended ECG, who are participating in a "high intensity sport" would be at an even greater risk than the aforementioned athletes. Now, amongst the school-age athletes, the annual risk is around 1:200,000 (according to a 12yr study of 1.4 million student athletes from 27 sports.) Amongst our country's triathlon participants, I would assume the risk might be a bit higher than our younger athletes- say 4 times greater. At that rate, we could expect cardiac related complications in our triathlons to be around 1 in 50,000. Let's say that our risk is 8 times greater. We would then have a risk factor of 1 in 25,000. The 2007 USAT membership was 100,674, up from 84,787 in 2006. With a hypothetic risk factor of 1 in 25,000 and participation numbers exceeding 100,000 participants, we can expect at least 4 cardiac related deaths each year within USAT sanctioned events alone. Let's face it, when training, many of us have our comfort heart rate zone, our intense training heart rate zone, and that zone we stay out of in training most of the time to prevent injuries, excess lactic acid build up, cramping and over-training but will venture into when getting near the finish line of an actual competition. I wouldn't recommend busting off the starting line at that level of intensity (unless you know what you are doing, e.g. getting heart rate quickly up to optimal rate,) but a new competitor's desire to get out in front due to adrenaline, the possible desire to be the alpha, or the fear of being smashed in the middle of the pack or left in the rear may be just the motivation a new triathlete needs to push it too fast too hard in the beginning. Due to the lack of an annual or semi annual visit with a cardiologist (not a family doctor) for exercise stress test and other evals, one could discover en route that during this level of intensity they have a problem. As has been mentioned, in deep water and in conditions where it is difficult for rescuers to quickly spot you and get to you, this is not a good place for such a discovery. It looks like the New York Times is thinking along the same lines at www.nytimes.com/.../28fitness.html www.getactivetampa.com/Swimming-triathlon ocean swim.jpg

I did a tri relay a few weeks ago with a 500m swim and started in the second of two waves. First wave men, second women and relays. I could not believe the quantity of inexperienced swimmers in the first wave. I am not a great swimmer but passed at least over half of the men who had a three minute head start. I don't think that should happen in a 500. It was obvious many of the swimmers were grossly underprepared. Many not even swimming....why? scared? gassed out after 200 yds? distressed? Swimming is serious business and dangerous. I don't know if this is stressed enough in tri's that atract alot of beginners.

I thought that there were rules about water temp and using wetsuits.

TriChica, you bring up a great example of a potential cause of death... overheating due to wetsuit. I don't know the conditions of the deaths of the 7 people so far, but having swum in wetsuits for OW swim-only events, they could very well be a contributing factor. Not to sound unsympathetic, but if these athletes are swimming in wetsuits when it is hotter than Hades in (and out of) the water, they're asking for it. I believe the max temperature where wetsuits are allowed is 84. If it is hot, humid, and the sun is beating down on you, why would you strap on a non-breathable extra 1/8" layer of insulation? You're cooking yourself like a hot sausage in there. The USMS 2mi Cable Champs were held in 84 degree water... I was cooking in there - I can't imagine wearing a wetsuit too. With so many triathlons taking place in the summertime, the rubber is truly unnecessary in a lot of races (I understand the water was ~70 last week for the Lake Placid IronMan - totally understandable to wear rubber there). USAT is partly to blame with their temperature guidelines, but race directors need to step up and encourage people to be practical and to take them off when the water is in the 78-84 "wetsuit optional" range. don't think so. many of the past deaths since 1985 have been from the water being too cold , swimmers not warming up properly...just jump in and swim like a bat out of hell...at which point their heart rate skyrockets, leading to heart failure.