Terrible accident takes place during the bike at the Ironman European Championship

We’ll have more on this as the day progresses, but there has been a terrible accident out on the bike course at today’s Ironman European Championship in Hamburg. On a narrow part of the bike course a motorcycle carrying a media photographer struck an age group athlete. Part of the course was closed, and athletes had to walk/ run their bikes up and down a grass bank.

A helicopter was dispatched to the area, but it appeared that the athlete and the two men on the motorcycle were taken away in an ambulance. Originally it was announced that the race would be shortened, with athletes turning around just before the accident site, but in the end it appeared that the course continued to feature the run up and down the side of the hill.

The German coverage of the race has been stopped.

In a statement just read during the live coverage of the race, Ironman announced that the people involved in the accident were taken to hospital and that officials are working with the police.

We’ll have more as information is made available.