An athlete competing in the Ironman U.S. Championship in New York City and New Jersey died Saturday after having a medical problem during the swimming portion of the grueling triathlon, race officials said.
The competitor “experienced distress” during a 2.4-mile swim in the Hudson River at the start of the all-day competition, a publicist for the race organizers said. The course ran along the New Jersey shoreline, just north of the George Washington Bridge.
The swimmer was pulled out of the water and taken to a hospital in nearby Englewood Cliffs, N.J., but did not survive. The organizers said the cause of death is unknown. An autopsy is planned.
You have to be crazy to swim in the disgusting Hudson. This is unrelated to the tragic death of the competitor but it does illustrate the insanity in a competition like this one. Partly treated sewage began gushing into the Hudson River earlier in August, and officials warned against direct contact with the water.
The water was chlorinated, but with a massive sewage leak only 15 miles north from the eventual race location (in a river that runs north-south), it seemed that the Ironman was in significant danger of being canceled. The discharge was expected to continue into the next day, and wind up with "millions of gallons" of raw sewage in the Hudson. Nonetheless, August 10 saw the NYC Department of Environmental Protection give the green light after conducting a series of water quality tests, and the race was saved.
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