yeah I can see that being an increasing requirement, and cardiac check etc
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Because there would be very few races…and even if it was mandatory, not everyone follows instructions as we are just discovering…
Not exactly accurate. If the French triathlon event is sanctioned/permitted by the French federation (FFTri) then under European Tri rules any competitor with a race licence from another federation e.g. BTF can race without that medical sign off. You are assumed to be fit to race by FFtri as you have BTF membership.
Same goes for IM events if they are permitted by the national federation (only US IM events don’t recognise this however).
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Yes if the IM event is running under local federation permits - certainly as far as UK events are concerned.
So, without the TO sanction, assuming this event was held under TI insurance (and that the process is the same as GB) then the athletes would not be insured…
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I think you would be correct but I don’t know details of the TI system
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me neither…nor IM specifics…
I know one of the TI TMs but he is busy with all this at present, so will give hime some space…
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I’m similar with one of the TI TOs who was there but giving them some time before contacting
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That raises serious questions - you’re either insured or not insured - as the event organisers pay for insurance up front - it would be a stretch to believe the event has an insurance clause that says parent ironman policy kicks in and covers in the event that TI don’t sanction the event - you would expect that ironmans annual policy premium is priced based on a stated assumption that athletes will have TI race licences and thus be covered
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Not the day licenses…in the UK at least…
I certainly wouldn’t expect that to be the case…but i would expect something along the lines of “if the TO says it’s unsafe, perhaps they just might be on to something”…
This really depends on under whose insurance the event was held…
Correct…
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There’s also a misconception in the UK (don’t know if it’s the same in Ireland) that a BTF race licence covers you if you race in a non-permitted event. It doesn’t - so anyone taking part in these need to check with the race organiser as to what insurances they have in place to cover them in event of issues.
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Not if you are a BTF member.
Hmm, just because he’s done previous events doesn’t make him a strong swimmer. Probably competent and hopefully more experienced.
Also, it’s no guarantee your heart won’t just give up. Plenty of ex-pro sports people have sudden failure after years of activity. Ugo Ehiogu is always one that stands out for me, early 40’s when he went 
I am hopeful the research I’m doing might give some insight, but not at my expense of course!
Ps, comments not aimed at you or the post that was probably made in good faith.
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The implicit assumption here is that RNLI in normal process always govern wether swims are safe or not. Upthread the assumption is that it is Triathlon Ireland.
In reality I suspect we’re just hearing everyone distancing themselves from these deaths.
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said that earlier
There is also no kerb-side test doctors can hand out and say you won’t have a heart attack in the next couple of days. It’s just a liability thing, it has no actual risk mitigation value.
I’ll reiterate - no one that I’m aware of has presented evidence of these congenital heart defects as causes of swim deaths. They can’t find anything else and say it’s probably that.
A that a large chunk of the athletes getting out of the water and finishing the race apparently have these defects too, because the population at large has them.
You could just tell this was going to be a shit storm.
No preventing that now.
Like you I’m not blaming anyone, unlike most other people
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Before I did the 2.5k OW swim race in Montenegro, a doctor had to listen to my chest/lungs with a stethascope before I could enter. It was all very last minute, and strangley efficient.
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Assessing someone’s fitness to do endurance sport is not at all easy. A lot of docs won’t do it.
Like Chris (I think) I have a postgrad qualification in sports and exercise medicine, and still am pretty apprehensive. My approach is to ask quite a lot of detail about health conditions, training history, previous races, any symptoms during maximal exercise. If there are no issues there, that’s a good start.
The problem is, if people are required to have medical clearance, they naturally will want to pass the medical & this might influence the quality of the info gained.
Physical examination & tests like ECG or echocardiogram might provide a bit more reassurance, but are the icing not the cake. Unless getting into pretty involved tests, it’s difficult to pick up early coronary artery disease for example, which can lead to heart problems when exercising. Those sort of tests can be expensive and controversial too, risk-aversion may lead to barring people who are really healthy enough to race.
So I’m not convinced that mandating mass medical checks in tri is helpful, generally. Maybe for youngsters on the pro circuit, but that’s a different set of circumstances.
Very sad about what happened at Cork, don’t know any details, sympathy to everyone involved.
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I had to have a medical for international racing. Went to Leeds Becket Uni for it & consisted of an ECG, blood tests measuring fasted glucose & cholesterol plus screening questions.
Came out with Q risk of 3.4% as a likleyhood of having a stroke or heart attack in the next 10 years. Would have been lower except for being a smoker as a young adult.
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