"Hidden dangers of triathlon"

nerraw1111

Article in today's UK Times

"But, after a spate of deaths in the event, experts are beginning to question whether the demands of the sport are simply too great for the average person.

In a recent study presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions conference researchers reported how the risk of dying in a triathlon is nearly double the risk of dying in a marathon."


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6293126.ece

Seems a somewhat odd article, a Saturday filler.

The most significant quote is, unsurprisingly, at the end of the article.

"Dr Ese Stacey, the medical director of the London Triathlon, says that the risk must be kept in perspective. “There is a risk of sudden death from an underlying heart problem if you walk down the street,” she says. “And the risk in triathlons is no greater than that.”

MrCreosote

They should have just called it "the hidden dangers of open-water swimming"

Typical dodgy Times reporting, (like the endurance racing one). The average person doesn't have long QT syndrome, one in two thousand has. So how can they then jump and say they're worried about the demands of a tri on an average person?

911sc

nerraw1111 wrote: »

the risk of dying in a triathlon is nearly double the risk of dying in a marathon."

Double nearly zero is almost zero.
Risk is 1.5 per 100,000 in triathlon, and 0.8 for marathon.

A study included 922,810 triathlon participants. There were a total of 14 deaths, 11 in men and 3 in women. Thirteen of the deaths occurred during the swimming leg of the race and were initially thought to be from drowning. Autopsies were performed on 6 of the 13 swimming deaths and underlying cardiovascular disease was found in 4 of them.

tunney

Perhaps it is a strain for an "average person".

But if I was an obese middle aged man thinking of doing an event like a triathlon I'd at least go to a doctor and prepare properly.

There is no real risk, in a properly run event, for a healthy prepared person.

MrCreosote

tunney wrote: »

Perhaps it is a strain for an "average person".

But if I was an obese middle aged man thinking of doing an event like a triathlon I'd at least go to a doctor and prepare properly.

There is no real risk, in a properly run event, for a healthy prepared person.

I would agree with that.

Stark

Oh dear. Better stay on the couch to be on the safe side. Wouldn't want to be getting a heart attack!

griffin100

Dr Kevin Harris, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, who led the study, says that it is a “not inconsequential” risk of 1.5 per 100,000 participants. Harris, who studied 2,846 triathlons in the US, found that there were 14 deaths among the 922,810 competitors. Of these, 13 happened during the swim (one man died after falling from his bike) but none during the run. Harris says that the average age of those who died was 43.

The odds of being struck by lightening in your lifetime are 1 in 5,000 (in the USA http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.htm). The odds or dying in a triathlon are approx. 1 in 66,000 according to this study. By my reckoning that makes golf (where you get to swing a metal club around in all weathers) about 13 times more dangerous than triathlons.