Ironman offers free entries to athletes who DNFd at Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay due to tough swim conditions
Over 300 athletes fail to finish swim at race due to strong currents
Last weekend athletes competing at Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay faced tough conditions during the swim. In addition to cold water temperatures, reported by some athletes to have been between 52 and 57 degrees Fahrenheit (11.1 to 13.8 C), athletes faced a stiff current that was so strong many athletes weren’t able to make any forward progress. We spoke with one athlete who competed in the race who said the first 1 km of the swim took him about 10 minutes, but the last 900 m took him 37 minutes to complete.
That strong current was enough to force many swimmers to pull out of the race, leading to one of the largest DNF percentages at an Ironman event.
According to the results from the race, of the 1,446 individual and 63 relay teams in the race, 1,060 individuals and 47 relay teams finished. That means about a quarter of the field (26.6 per cent) failed to finish the race. That’s in line with some of the highest DNF rates at Ironman events over the years – according to the Coach Cox website, the extreme heat at Ironman Frankfurt in 2019 led to a DNF rate of over 26 per cent, too.
At last year’s inaugural event the swim course led athletes to some shallow parts of the bay, which forced athletes to have to walk part of the swim course. The changes this year ended up putting athletes in the current, which led to the challenges. Luckily enough, despite the challenges, it’s been reported that all the athletes competing at the event were OK.
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Ironman has reached out to the athletes who failed to finish the race in Morro Bay and offered a chance to compete at another race this year, or to return to Morro Bay next year. Here’s the email message that athletes are receiving:
At every IRONMAN event our team strives to provide you with the best race day experience possible. With the changing water conditions in Morro Bay this past weekend, we understand your disappointment in not being able to showcase and celebrate all the hard work that you’ve put into your training.
While race day didn’t end the way we had hoped for you, we want to help your journey to the finish line continue.
Understanding the heightened difficulty of the swim course and to help you finish what you set out to achieve, we’d like to extend you a limited time offer for a FREE entry into any available 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 event in North America. This includes the following events:
June 8, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder
June 9, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Western Massachusetts
June 23, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Coeur d’Alene
June 30, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley
July 13, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie
July 21, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio
July 28, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Maine
August 25, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Canada Penticton
September 7, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Wisconsin
September 8, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Santa Cruz
September 15, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan
September 22, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities September 28, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 New York
September 29, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta
October 6, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Waco
October 19, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina
December 8, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells La Quinta
December 15, 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Florida
Alternatively, you can choose to race at 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Morro Bay, scheduled for Sunday, May 18, 2025.
Immediately following this email, you will receive an email from Active with a link to select your FREE IRONMAN 70.3 event. You will have until 11:59pm ET on Friday, June 7 to redeem your exclusive offer for your next event.
We hope to cheer you across the finish line very soon.
