Ironman retains legal counsel over Triathlon Ireland actions

Last week the Irish Times reported that Ironman had threatened Triathlon Ireland with legal action over its actions after the death of two athletes at Ironman Ireland last month. It’s taken us a while to corroborate the reporting by the Irish Times (we were a bit worried about the story since it contained some factual errors – Ironman is not known as “Ironman International” and the company is not based in New York), but we can now confirm that Ironman has, in fact, retained legal council and is looking at it’s options in relation to the national governing body. (We have agreed not to identify the source.)

Ironman is seeking resolution with Triathlon Ireland as the company disputes the statement that “BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE Triathlon Ireland Technical Officials confirmed to the race organizers that it was not possible to sanction the race” due to “adverse conditions on the day.”

The furor began at the event on Aug. 20. when two athletes died during the swim at Ironman 70.3 Ireland. The following day Triathlon Ireland CEO Darren Coombes issued a statement saying that Triathlon Ireland officials had decided not to sanction the event. That statement was disputed by Ironman. The company countered that Triathlon Ireland officials didn’t say anything about not sanctioning the event until hours after the race, and that Triathlon Ireland officials continued to officiate at the event as well. There was also no announcement to athletes that the race was no longer sanctioned, either, according to multiple sources at the race. The Triathlon Ireland website still shows Ironman Ireland as a sanctioned event.

Ironman responds to Triathlon Ireland statement, disputing the timeline of sanctioning decision

The Irish Times also reported that Coombes has since reached out to Irish triathlon clubs and let them know that their athletes insurance was still in effect during the race. This contradicts Triathlon Ireland’s policy of only offering insurance at sanctioned events.

We’ve reached out to Triathlon Ireland through PR crisis firm Fuzion Communications for comment and clarification, but the organization has chosen not to comment.

Challenging conditions

Due to challenging conditions in the water, Ironman officials chose to shorten the swim distances and modify the course for both the Ironman 70.3 and Ironman races in Ireland. The 70.3 athletes were first into the water, and swam a 1,500 m course. Officials decided to further adjust the full-distance course to 1,400 m.

The two athletes who died during the swim, Canadian Ivan Chittenden and Ireland’s Brendan Wall, were both competing in the 70.3 event. According to our source, both athletes were well past the breaking waves at the start of the swim before they began to have issues – Wall had stood up and was at the end of the swim, while reports, along with Chittenden’s Strava file, appear to indicate that he was well past the halfway point of the swim (aproximately 900 m) when he started to have issues.

Triathlon community mourns the loss of athlete who “died doing what he loved”