Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Big thanks to John, my training partner and web Kung-Fu master who after speaking with Mistress on the phone during the race and me afterwards wanted to know more about this drowning victim during the swim portion of Ironman Florida. After much scouring of the net with his filters running on high he was able to clip this.

Ironman Tri-athlete in Critical Condition
By Kate Eckman
WJHG-TV
Nov 5, 2006
11-4-06Officials say the 35-year-old white male was drowning during the
swimming portion of the race this morning, and several hours later
authorities were still trying to determine what caused the man to drown.Maj.
Dave Humphreys with Panama City Beach Police said, "During the swim,
apparently this individual became distressed. Some other tri-athletes, we
don't know who they are, apparently motioned for help. Two Navy divers were
able to get the man to shore and get an ambulance called, and the individual
was transported to the hospital."The 2.4 mile swim portion of the Ford
Ironman Florida began behind the Boardwalk Beach Resort in the Gulf of
Mexico.About 2,000 athletes from 32 countries and all 50 states are
competing in the Florida Ironman.

5 comments:

mipper said...

that was the only snippet i found as well. i found it in the PCB news online. nothing else though. hope he is ok.

Kona Shelley said...

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061109/NEWS01/61108025/1006

Looks like he passed away, very sad!!

greyhound said...

Very sad and also unusual. If the Pensacola News Journal account is accurate, he had finished one lap and was .6 miles into his second lap of the swim. If he was having difficulty just with the swimming conditions, one would think perhaps he would not have re-entered the water after the first lap. I know the conditions would have been very intimidating for me.

Perhaps heart attack is the real culprit and drowning is secondary to losing conciousness in the water.

JC Hyte said...

I'm really sad about this I was hoping he pulled through.

Michael said...

I think there should be an investigation into wether there were enough support staff on location... especially for the weather.