Cork County Council has asked Ironman organisers for a full account of Sunday’s double tragedy in Youghal as a row erupted last night over when the governing body told race organisers it could not sanction the event.
As the Irish Examiner reports, Ironman claimed in a statement on Tuesday evening that representatives of Triathlon Ireland, the sport’s governing body, told Ironman Ireland officials on the ground in Youghal that they would not approve the sanctioning of the event “several hours” after the swim was completed.
Ivan Chittenden, aged 64, from Toronto, and Brendan Wall, aged 44, originally from Meath, both died after getting into difficulty in separate apparent medical emergencies during the swim in heavy seas off Youghal’s Front Strand on Sunday morning.
However, Triathlon Ireland said its technical officials confirmed to the Ironman race organisers “before the start of the race” that it was not possible for them to sanction the race because of the adverse weather conditions.
Experienced triathletes have spoken of the fear and panic among competitors during Sunday’s event.
One competitor, Keith O’Sullivan said of the 10m-12m high waves at the start of the race: “The challenges we faced coming off the beach were not something that we have ever trained in or that any professional triathlete would normally train in, because the waves were crashing so high they were driving people back directly onto rocks.”
He told RTÉ radio that even the spotters and kayakers who were part of the safety teams were struggling to stay upright in the heavy swell.
