FEATURES

Avoiding Tri Disasters...

Tuesday, 08 December 2015 00:10

By Paul N. Bloom and David K. Williams (usatriathlon.org)

Having competed in hundreds of triathlons over the years, my colleague, Dave Williams, and I have experienced and observed an amazing array of race-day ‘disasters.’ Indeed, I had such discouraging mishaps in my first three triathlons that I came close to quitting the sport.

In my first sprint triathlon with a 750-meter swim in a pond, I swam in the wrong direction and crashed head on into the fast swimmers who were finishing the swim leg. Hurt and embarrassed, I dropped out of the race. Not to be deterred, I came back to the same race the next year and...

promptly had a panic attack at the start of the swim, leading me to drop out again. Trying to improve my chances of making it beyond the swim start, I made my third attempt a race that had a pool swim using a time-trial start. I completed the swim leg in that race, only to take off on the bike and hit a speed bump about 200 yards into the course. I was thrown from the bike onto my shoulder, but in my disoriented and injured state I remounted the bike, took off again, and hit another speed bump 200 yards down the road and ended up battered on the ground. I had multiple injuries, including a broken clavicle, and was taken to an emergency room at the same hospital where my mother had just died a few weeks earlier. Could anything be more of a disaster than that?

Dave has had more than his share of disasters too. He has gotten lost and delayed traveling to races, gotten punched in the face during an open water swim, had his shoes disappear in T1, had flat tires and crashes during the bike leg, had someone take his race belt and number in T2, and fainted at the end of several runs. Moreover, we have seen a friend miss a race start because of falling asleep in a porta-john and others have had problems because of borrowed swim goggles, stuck wetsuit zippers, broken pedals, slipping aerobars, malfunctioning gears and awful gastrointestinal issues. READ MORE