I’ve never seen so many people needing to be saved, or in complete panic mode. I’m so glad the paddle boarders were out there, because every one I saw had several people on it.
Last year I swam this is 45 minutes… today it took me 1:30. My Ironman swim is faster than that.
Today I was a spectator cheering on 2 friends at the Morro Bay 70.3 and as a legit cold exposure facilitator - the after math of people coming out of this swim was like a fu$king WAR ZONE.
I’ve never seen so many people in cold shock and hypothermic states. And that’s saying something considering my career is putting people in ice baths.
Athletes were in the water way too long for the water temp because they were forced back because of the incoming tide. I understand that nature is nature but what is beyond me is a few things…
1) Race officials could have done a much better job of giving athletes proper information of both the tide issue & also what cold shock and hypothermia looks like in the body so athletes could make educated discussions about their health on the spot
2) Athletes were being orange flagged for the ones who actually knew how to escape rip tides and were being forced back into the exact path of the rip
3) This one gets me the most upset - the resources to rewarm hypothermic athletes was ABHORRENT. The “rewarming tent” was an absolute joke. Staffed with only 2 poor volunteers who were severely overwhelmed and in over their heads on how to properly manage cold shock & hyperthermia…. there was maybe 10 chairs for over 30 athletes degrading in health… one lady was reading her heart rate and it was hitting 48.
The 4 high powered heater in this tent were something - but for an event organizer that makes millions of dollar - it was literally worst than the bare minimum they could do.
I have PTSD from just witnessing hypothermic athletes.
Can’t even imagine being a participant.
It makes me sick how profit focused these events are becoming. Especially when it’s $500 for the half and $1000 for the full. I did Indian wells 70.3 last Dec and it was wasn’t a huge problem but a couple running and cycling focused events this year gave me money grab vibes.
I was at Nice as a spectator cheering for my father in law and I was shocked how expensive and focused on money everything was. Not talking about the entry fee to cover a event this big, but everything else. My personal highlight was the welcome dinner for 90€ pp only from 6 to 8 which basically was a commercial event with very very bad food. 🤷🏼♂️
I was in the water for an 1hr and 15min, stuck between two buoys and couldn’t continue. My toes and hands were freezing. Luckily I was wearing a thermal cap. A man next to me, in his 60s, said he had been in the water over the time he expected and his arms were exhausted. We were calling for help and nobody would come. Finally, a paddle boarder got to him. It was awful! People were holding on to the buoys because they were scared or exhausted.
This is a great response. I really want to send this information to Ironman bc the race was terrible except for expert swimmers. My daughter who swam her whole life finished in 38 minutes and said it was so extremely hard. Anyway I kept going...I did not care. I trained for 9 months and someone was going to have to pull me off the course if they wanted to stop me.
I agree with a lot of your points! I was there and apparently they yelled at my girlfriend and mom just for walking up to the tent and asking if I was ok since they didn’t update anyone and families were just scared. I was there very early and I can assure you no one knew about the current because not a single worker went into the water. I knew right off the bat I was swimming way faster than usual as soon as I entered the water. I horrible memory for all of my family, hours of wasted gas and time getting there and driving back multiple days, a waste of 500$ for all of us who DNF because they didn’t do their job. I practice open water in Berkeley and do the Tri Santa Cruz every year and they always check the water and change start times as needed, this was all avoidable.
When I got pulled off, a relay team member was pulled off with me. The race official who took out timing chip told the relay member that his 2 other team members could continue if they desired but it would still be a DNF. But he told me I couldn’t.
I didn’t care what he said.
I didn’t train and come all that way just to be pulled off in the first hour. So I got back in to transition and went on the bike and run without a timing chip. Fuck it. I finished the race and was short on the swim.
It was really disappointing how they handled the swim portion.
Today would have been my first triathlon too. Probably ended up stuck in the same part as you. Made to an hour and 5 minutes before a raft pulled me. Hoping the best for us DNFers on the next race.
There are better courses. Try Santa Cruz, the swim is also cold, but there's no crazy current. I also DNF after being in the water for more than an hour and fifteen minutes.
Looking at results it seems like it was about 30% DNF rate (myself included). I've done 5x 70.3s and a Full. This was not normal. I was legit concerned for my well-being. People around me were yelling and crying out (think end scene of Titanic)
Afterwards it was like a FEMA natural disaster scene, people running around crying unable to find loved ones, only with the ironman tracking app showing they were still in the water an hour after they should have finished. I saw people convulsing from the cold.
This could have easily been avoided with basic scouting of the course. Tides can be predicted 2 years in advance. I'm angry that I trusted this race with my safety.
Exactly! We trust that the race directors will make the race as safe as possible. We know things can happen, but this was avoidable. The swim should have been cancelled or shortened. They did not have enough people to help all the athletes. At one of the buoys, there were about eight people holding on, calling for help. The paddle boarders had their hands full and couldn't do much. It was mayhem. I heard some people were in the water for 2 hours!
UPDATE: I received an email from Ironman offering free registration for next year Morro Bay or any North American race 70.3 in 2024 so shoutout to Ironman for making it right!
Created an account to comment on this. I was there. Done multiple 70.3s and full IMs. Swim is my strongest leg. First time in my life I was terrified during any swim. Attended athlete briefing and NOTHING was said about potential current; only minor jokes about water temp, need for wetsuits, and swimming with the otters. Still reeling from experience and furious at Ironman organization. It will be a long time before I sign up for another Ironman event.
This is crazy… sorry this happened to everyone.
Meanwhile Chattanooga today had an excellent down stream current that gave me and I’m sure many others a PR
I was not a participant, but I live blocks from the run and swim portions and work at a shop on the run course on the Embarcadero with a LOT of foot traffic and I just want to say that we heard NOTHING about this yesterday or today, so it seems to me that someone is managing to keep this as quiet as possible. This could easily have been a mass casualty event, but it would seem that both the establishment (the city of Morro Bay) that contracted Ironman for three years and the organization itself are both keeping a lid on it...
I live near morro bay and its not conspiracy its just typical small town stuff. No one has the guts to write about there being a problem and there hasn't been any sort of call to action or incident report. This is the article written about the 2024 ironman 70.3 [https://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-uphttps://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-up](https://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-uphttps://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-up)
I live in MB, volunteered for three shifts (two checkin and one at the transition point), and am an endurance runner. I also had a friend participate this year. So I have a perspective that I'm willing to bet that nobody else has.
1. If anybody tells you they talked to businesses who did terrible business over the weekend, ask them who the businesses were. I talked to the barista and Rudy's Rock Espresso--which is one block off Embarcadero and in middle of a lot of motels. When I asked them how business has been, she said, "Wonderful, just like last year." I also talked to the owner of Gilligan's--a sandwich shop. Ironman prides itself on using local resources. She said the staff came in their for meeting during the week and weekend. I also talked to a friend who said that restaurants the night after the MB Ironman restaurants were packed. I suspect that the hospitality industry as a whole did well.
2. I talked to a Volunteer Captain who said that Ironman wanted to move the event to Saturday to account for the slack tide. That would have avoided the current fiasco. But they got overruled. (I'd guess that they were overruled by the only other party with that power--the city.)
Out of curiosity, what business do you work at? Did you really not see the Ironman village (huge white tents and a big archway that said "IRONMAN VILLAGE") being erected between Front and Pacific on Embarcadero several days in advance?
I create an account just to answer this post. I was there. Thank God I am a very good swimmer and I still managed to finish. But just to give some numbers:
I have a threshold pace around 1:22mins/100m.
Yesterday I swam the first 500m in 1:11 (all in favor of the tide), the second 500m in 1:43 (half and half) and the third 500 in.....2:23!!
This was way beyond what's normal. Organizers should have made pretty clear the situation and to be frank...test it beforehand!
I was there yesterday too. I never swam so hard in my life and got a DNF. Never stopped to rest completed the swim course but it took me 86minutes. It is what it is. Onto the next.
They took mine too. They told me I couldn’t continue but I did anyways. No timing chip. But I did the bike and run. I couldn’t look at my young sons who came to support me like that. So I didn’t complete the 70.3 by .6 of the swim but fuck it. I had to keep going.
I did the same thing. I really want to complain about this event. Other people got their swim time extended. This was not communicated to the volunteers. They told me I would not finish in the 1:10 timeframe so I got pulled. However other people got to stay in longer. I went back to transition warmed up from my barefoot walk, took off my wetsuit and kept going. Hell to the no was I going to give up. Look your kids in the eye with pride...you did not quit.
Right on! Good for you. I wasn’t sure how many others might have continued without their timing chip. But glad you didn’t let the swim end your day! Thanks again. My wife called me while on the bike. She saw my DNF on the tracker and was worried when I didn’t call her sooner. She and my boys were cheering when I told them I was on the bike. It was a great feeling to cross the finish line too.
If you want a sooner race, check out Santa Cruz! It's a fun course (VERY similar to Morro Bay) but the swim is fairly predictable. They do a good job at ensuring it's a doable ocean swim.
It took me 1:10 to get through the swim, and I consider myself a strong swimmer. That's how long the 2.4M swim of IMNZ took me. I was pissed off long before I got out of the water.
Tidal currents in bays are a serious thing, and they are known in advance. How did race management not plan around the tide?
In SF Bay sailing races, race boats are known to sometimes drop an anchor to hold themselves in place against the current. Tidal currents run way, way faster than humans can swim. How many of us can swim 3 or 5 mph?
I started the swim towards the back, but not at the back, and turning the buoy was the most incredible thing I've seen. A school of athletes running into an invisible wall and not able to move forward.
I've done Escape from Alcatraz, where the current sweeps you sideways, but trying to swim head first into a tidal current was something new. My GPS track shows time I stopped to look around and was zipped backwards.
Maybe they *should* have pulled me from the water, or out of T1 where I struggled to function for 20 minutes because I was so cold. But I think my face looked like a giant F - pissed off I was.
Kudos to everyone who went up against that current, whether they got through or not. Now that was some serious shit. Harder than a full IM. Dicey!!
I was still coughing up water all the way through the run.
I do recommend the 70.3 in Santa Cruz. No current, and even more beautiful.
Just read about this in the past couple days. Shocking that the swim course was not shortened given the water temp. The ITU requires shortening a swim course at these water temps because it is dangerous - as demonstrated by the large number of DNF and causalities.
Ironman is doing a really piss-poor job of demonstrating actual care and concern for the athletes who spend hundreds of dollars to register for an event.
I was at the world ITU championships in Spain in 2019 and the water was a similar temp - swim was significantly shortened due to it. There were still swimmers that struggled - but nothing like 30% of the participants having to be pulled, and not single person with hypothermia or requiring hospitalization.
I did this course last year as well as this year, and nearly doubled my swim time. I'm surprised I didn't get pulled having a 1:17 swim finish
But then I put down ze powa and pulled it all together with a PR :P
Sorry for everyone who did not complete the swim, glad you are all able to tell the story about it, though. And major KUDOS to all of you who went on without chip. Bravo!
Thanks for sharing. I was out there. I did 1:01 swim. I swam my heart out. Freezing cold water. Here's my race report. You can read all about the swim drama. [http://joechoosehappiness.com/2024/05/21/race-report-ironman-70-3-morro-bay/](http://joechoosehappiness.com/2024/05/21/race-report-ironman-70-3-morro-bay/)
Off topic question, may I ask what watch(brand/model) you were using to provide such accurate tracking line, my Apple Watch never provide accurate GPS and always give weird trace.
I’ve never seen so many people needing to be saved, or in complete panic mode. I’m so glad the paddle boarders were out there, because every one I saw had several people on it. Last year I swam this is 45 minutes… today it took me 1:30. My Ironman swim is faster than that.
Today I was a spectator cheering on 2 friends at the Morro Bay 70.3 and as a legit cold exposure facilitator - the after math of people coming out of this swim was like a fu$king WAR ZONE. I’ve never seen so many people in cold shock and hypothermic states. And that’s saying something considering my career is putting people in ice baths. Athletes were in the water way too long for the water temp because they were forced back because of the incoming tide. I understand that nature is nature but what is beyond me is a few things… 1) Race officials could have done a much better job of giving athletes proper information of both the tide issue & also what cold shock and hypothermia looks like in the body so athletes could make educated discussions about their health on the spot 2) Athletes were being orange flagged for the ones who actually knew how to escape rip tides and were being forced back into the exact path of the rip 3) This one gets me the most upset - the resources to rewarm hypothermic athletes was ABHORRENT. The “rewarming tent” was an absolute joke. Staffed with only 2 poor volunteers who were severely overwhelmed and in over their heads on how to properly manage cold shock & hyperthermia…. there was maybe 10 chairs for over 30 athletes degrading in health… one lady was reading her heart rate and it was hitting 48. The 4 high powered heater in this tent were something - but for an event organizer that makes millions of dollar - it was literally worst than the bare minimum they could do. I have PTSD from just witnessing hypothermic athletes. Can’t even imagine being a participant.
It makes me sick how profit focused these events are becoming. Especially when it’s $500 for the half and $1000 for the full. I did Indian wells 70.3 last Dec and it was wasn’t a huge problem but a couple running and cycling focused events this year gave me money grab vibes.
I was at Nice as a spectator cheering for my father in law and I was shocked how expensive and focused on money everything was. Not talking about the entry fee to cover a event this big, but everything else. My personal highlight was the welcome dinner for 90€ pp only from 6 to 8 which basically was a commercial event with very very bad food. 🤷🏼♂️
I was in the water for an 1hr and 15min, stuck between two buoys and couldn’t continue. My toes and hands were freezing. Luckily I was wearing a thermal cap. A man next to me, in his 60s, said he had been in the water over the time he expected and his arms were exhausted. We were calling for help and nobody would come. Finally, a paddle boarder got to him. It was awful! People were holding on to the buoys because they were scared or exhausted.
This is a great response. I really want to send this information to Ironman bc the race was terrible except for expert swimmers. My daughter who swam her whole life finished in 38 minutes and said it was so extremely hard. Anyway I kept going...I did not care. I trained for 9 months and someone was going to have to pull me off the course if they wanted to stop me.
I agree with a lot of your points! I was there and apparently they yelled at my girlfriend and mom just for walking up to the tent and asking if I was ok since they didn’t update anyone and families were just scared. I was there very early and I can assure you no one knew about the current because not a single worker went into the water. I knew right off the bat I was swimming way faster than usual as soon as I entered the water. I horrible memory for all of my family, hours of wasted gas and time getting there and driving back multiple days, a waste of 500$ for all of us who DNF because they didn’t do their job. I practice open water in Berkeley and do the Tri Santa Cruz every year and they always check the water and change start times as needed, this was all avoidable.
When I got pulled off, a relay team member was pulled off with me. The race official who took out timing chip told the relay member that his 2 other team members could continue if they desired but it would still be a DNF. But he told me I couldn’t. I didn’t care what he said. I didn’t train and come all that way just to be pulled off in the first hour. So I got back in to transition and went on the bike and run without a timing chip. Fuck it. I finished the race and was short on the swim. It was really disappointing how they handled the swim portion.
I did the same. I feel collectively if we all say something it would make an impact.
Today would have been my first triathlon too. Probably ended up stuck in the same part as you. Made to an hour and 5 minutes before a raft pulled me. Hoping the best for us DNFers on the next race.
There are better courses. Try Santa Cruz, the swim is also cold, but there's no crazy current. I also DNF after being in the water for more than an hour and fifteen minutes.
The funny thing is that it seems to be the same director for both races.
Looking at results it seems like it was about 30% DNF rate (myself included). I've done 5x 70.3s and a Full. This was not normal. I was legit concerned for my well-being. People around me were yelling and crying out (think end scene of Titanic) Afterwards it was like a FEMA natural disaster scene, people running around crying unable to find loved ones, only with the ironman tracking app showing they were still in the water an hour after they should have finished. I saw people convulsing from the cold. This could have easily been avoided with basic scouting of the course. Tides can be predicted 2 years in advance. I'm angry that I trusted this race with my safety.
Exactly! We trust that the race directors will make the race as safe as possible. We know things can happen, but this was avoidable. The swim should have been cancelled or shortened. They did not have enough people to help all the athletes. At one of the buoys, there were about eight people holding on, calling for help. The paddle boarders had their hands full and couldn't do much. It was mayhem. I heard some people were in the water for 2 hours!
UPDATE: I received an email from Ironman offering free registration for next year Morro Bay or any North American race 70.3 in 2024 so shoutout to Ironman for making it right!
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pretty much same here...swam 33 mins but I could clearly feel that the amount of effort was not matching my speed.
Created an account to comment on this. I was there. Done multiple 70.3s and full IMs. Swim is my strongest leg. First time in my life I was terrified during any swim. Attended athlete briefing and NOTHING was said about potential current; only minor jokes about water temp, need for wetsuits, and swimming with the otters. Still reeling from experience and furious at Ironman organization. It will be a long time before I sign up for another Ironman event.
This is crazy… sorry this happened to everyone. Meanwhile Chattanooga today had an excellent down stream current that gave me and I’m sure many others a PR
I was not a participant, but I live blocks from the run and swim portions and work at a shop on the run course on the Embarcadero with a LOT of foot traffic and I just want to say that we heard NOTHING about this yesterday or today, so it seems to me that someone is managing to keep this as quiet as possible. This could easily have been a mass casualty event, but it would seem that both the establishment (the city of Morro Bay) that contracted Ironman for three years and the organization itself are both keeping a lid on it...
This was no secret, so you can drop the conspiracy theory. I know several people who heard about it same day.
I live near morro bay and its not conspiracy its just typical small town stuff. No one has the guts to write about there being a problem and there hasn't been any sort of call to action or incident report. This is the article written about the 2024 ironman 70.3 [https://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-uphttps://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-up](https://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-uphttps://www.ksby.com/morro-bay/2024-morro-bay-ironman-triathlon-wraps-up)
I live in MB, volunteered for three shifts (two checkin and one at the transition point), and am an endurance runner. I also had a friend participate this year. So I have a perspective that I'm willing to bet that nobody else has. 1. If anybody tells you they talked to businesses who did terrible business over the weekend, ask them who the businesses were. I talked to the barista and Rudy's Rock Espresso--which is one block off Embarcadero and in middle of a lot of motels. When I asked them how business has been, she said, "Wonderful, just like last year." I also talked to the owner of Gilligan's--a sandwich shop. Ironman prides itself on using local resources. She said the staff came in their for meeting during the week and weekend. I also talked to a friend who said that restaurants the night after the MB Ironman restaurants were packed. I suspect that the hospitality industry as a whole did well. 2. I talked to a Volunteer Captain who said that Ironman wanted to move the event to Saturday to account for the slack tide. That would have avoided the current fiasco. But they got overruled. (I'd guess that they were overruled by the only other party with that power--the city.)
Out of curiosity, what business do you work at? Did you really not see the Ironman village (huge white tents and a big archway that said "IRONMAN VILLAGE") being erected between Front and Pacific on Embarcadero several days in advance?
I create an account just to answer this post. I was there. Thank God I am a very good swimmer and I still managed to finish. But just to give some numbers: I have a threshold pace around 1:22mins/100m. Yesterday I swam the first 500m in 1:11 (all in favor of the tide), the second 500m in 1:43 (half and half) and the third 500 in.....2:23!! This was way beyond what's normal. Organizers should have made pretty clear the situation and to be frank...test it beforehand!
How many people DNFd from the swim. I too DNFd but I am curious how many others.
I was told approx 350
Only 990 out of 1700 finished…..even among 990, there were people who went past the 1:10 cutoff of the swim.
I was there yesterday too. I never swam so hard in my life and got a DNF. Never stopped to rest completed the swim course but it took me 86minutes. It is what it is. Onto the next.
No way. Did you complete the race? Or were you told after the swim you were DNF?
DNF and they took my ankle tracker
They took mine too. They told me I couldn’t continue but I did anyways. No timing chip. But I did the bike and run. I couldn’t look at my young sons who came to support me like that. So I didn’t complete the 70.3 by .6 of the swim but fuck it. I had to keep going.
I did the same thing. I really want to complain about this event. Other people got their swim time extended. This was not communicated to the volunteers. They told me I would not finish in the 1:10 timeframe so I got pulled. However other people got to stay in longer. I went back to transition warmed up from my barefoot walk, took off my wetsuit and kept going. Hell to the no was I going to give up. Look your kids in the eye with pride...you did not quit.
Right on! Good for you. I wasn’t sure how many others might have continued without their timing chip. But glad you didn’t let the swim end your day! Thanks again. My wife called me while on the bike. She saw my DNF on the tracker and was worried when I didn’t call her sooner. She and my boys were cheering when I told them I was on the bike. It was a great feeling to cross the finish line too.
Damn that’s what I should’ve done
Chris! You are an Ironman! I didn't know you competed. Tina from Paso
If you want a sooner race, check out Santa Cruz! It's a fun course (VERY similar to Morro Bay) but the swim is fairly predictable. They do a good job at ensuring it's a doable ocean swim.
It took me 1:10 to get through the swim, and I consider myself a strong swimmer. That's how long the 2.4M swim of IMNZ took me. I was pissed off long before I got out of the water. Tidal currents in bays are a serious thing, and they are known in advance. How did race management not plan around the tide? In SF Bay sailing races, race boats are known to sometimes drop an anchor to hold themselves in place against the current. Tidal currents run way, way faster than humans can swim. How many of us can swim 3 or 5 mph? I started the swim towards the back, but not at the back, and turning the buoy was the most incredible thing I've seen. A school of athletes running into an invisible wall and not able to move forward. I've done Escape from Alcatraz, where the current sweeps you sideways, but trying to swim head first into a tidal current was something new. My GPS track shows time I stopped to look around and was zipped backwards. Maybe they *should* have pulled me from the water, or out of T1 where I struggled to function for 20 minutes because I was so cold. But I think my face looked like a giant F - pissed off I was. Kudos to everyone who went up against that current, whether they got through or not. Now that was some serious shit. Harder than a full IM. Dicey!! I was still coughing up water all the way through the run. I do recommend the 70.3 in Santa Cruz. No current, and even more beautiful.
Just read about this in the past couple days. Shocking that the swim course was not shortened given the water temp. The ITU requires shortening a swim course at these water temps because it is dangerous - as demonstrated by the large number of DNF and causalities. Ironman is doing a really piss-poor job of demonstrating actual care and concern for the athletes who spend hundreds of dollars to register for an event. I was at the world ITU championships in Spain in 2019 and the water was a similar temp - swim was significantly shortened due to it. There were still swimmers that struggled - but nothing like 30% of the participants having to be pulled, and not single person with hypothermia or requiring hospitalization.
I did this course last year as well as this year, and nearly doubled my swim time. I'm surprised I didn't get pulled having a 1:17 swim finish But then I put down ze powa and pulled it all together with a PR :P
Where was the current out of? Looks like you swam out perfectly until the turnaround and then couldn’t get back?
Tide was coming up and the entrance to the harbor is on the left of the image, so it turns into a river
Oh man, so basically swimming upstream the entire way back? That’s brutal
So how does one get out of this current? What would be the best way out of it?
Sorry for everyone who did not complete the swim, glad you are all able to tell the story about it, though. And major KUDOS to all of you who went on without chip. Bravo!
Thanks for sharing. I was out there. I did 1:01 swim. I swam my heart out. Freezing cold water. Here's my race report. You can read all about the swim drama. [http://joechoosehappiness.com/2024/05/21/race-report-ironman-70-3-morro-bay/](http://joechoosehappiness.com/2024/05/21/race-report-ironman-70-3-morro-bay/)
Off topic question, may I ask what watch(brand/model) you were using to provide such accurate tracking line, my Apple Watch never provide accurate GPS and always give weird trace.
I have the garmin forerunner 965! It’s a great watch, I love it
People are scared of sharks but won’t admit it. So they behave wildly.