Youghal Ironman participants: ‘We didn’t know the event hadn’t been sanctioned, nobody told us’

Dr Karen Howells, a sports psychologist from the United Kingdom, completed the 70.3 Ironman with her 23-year-old daughter Dr Ashleigh Howells on Sunday in Youghal.

She says that neither of them were aware that Triathlon Ireland (TI) had not sanctioned the event until they were on the ferry from Rosslare back to the UK, when they found out via social media.

The Ironman group has said it was not informed that the Cork race, during which two men died, was not sanctioned to go ahead until “several hours after the swim was completed”, a statement disputed by Triathlon Ireland.

“We went into the competition, as we have done with others, believing A, that this was a sanctioned event by the national governing body, and B that we had insurance going into the event,” Dr Howells said.

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According to Triathlon Ireland’s website, the insurance scheme for its members does not cover competitors in a race without such a sanction. Participants who are not members of TI buy a one-day membership in order to compete.

When Dr Howells and her daughter stood at the starting line, there were numerous delays, she said, because the organisers shortened the route, and moved the buoys and safety staff because of the conditions.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were a number of athletes, irrespective of what happened with the licence, with the sanctioning of the event, who said, ‘no, it’s too rough, I can’t do that’.

“But we didn’t know the event hadn’t been sanctioned, nobody told us that, there wasn’t any chatter amongst the athletes… there was nothing saying that this is no longer a sanctioned event, and nobody told us what potentially that meant for us,” she said.

Upon finding out that the event had not been sanctioned, Dr Howells said that at first she felt bemused, but that by the time they got home, the bemusement and shock had turned to anger.

“You have to sign a waiver to say we know the risks and we certainly went into it with our eyes open. But we were angry that nobody had told us that this was no longer a sanctioned event and therefore, all those kinds of safety aspects in terms of insurance weren’t there,” she said.

However, Dr Howells added that at no point did she feel like she was in danger when competing, but “having reflected on it, am very aware that other people were and that’s quite scary today”.

She also said that she was not surprised that the event went ahead, but that “it wasn’t normal conditions”.

“This was people grabbing me, pushing me down, it felt very chaotic and like people were frightened, people were struggling,” she said.

Neither Dr Howells or her daughter knew that two people had died during the event until they were in the finishers tent afterwards.

A Youghal local who took part in the Ironman 70.3 race on Sunday, Culann O’Brien, 26, said he had trained for the event for more than a year. He had been due to take part in the race on Saturday morning, however, due the weather conditions, his race was moved to the next morning.

The Cork man labelled the organisation as a “shambles”, with multiple delays on the Sunday morning – “it felt disorganised” he said.

He was not aware that the event had not been sanctioned by Triathlon Ireland, but he said that in the lead up to the race starting he could tell that there was uncertainty around the swimming portion of the race.

The local said that as someone who “grew up here and spent a lot of time in rough waters”, he did not find the conditions in the sea to be especially difficult. When he got out beyond the breaking waves the water was not unsafe.

Mr O’Brien was in the last groups who attempted the full 1.9km route in the swimming portion of the half-Ironman event, as he reached the turn-around buoy in the water, he was redirected by marshals in kayaks. He said that other than the confusion caused by the course changing during the race, “other than that I was personally okay”.