Ironman NY/NJ bad idea to worse

So, a "catastrophic" accident and spill will have the Hudson unfit for swimming for less than a week and your concern is...?

Any body of water shares these risks to some extent, especially those around heavily populated areas.  Heavy rains can also create run-off and make many rivers unsafe for swimming for a day or two.  But the river keeps flowing and things are then fine again.

The swim at NY/NJ is more at risk for cancellation than, say, LP.  So, it's a risk you take in signing up.

You're worried about the swim because of an incident that should be rectified by Sunday?  When is IM NYC?  Oh yeah...it's in 2012.

Direct qoute from the first sentence in the article..."rivers that run into New York Harbor will be unfit for recreational activities at least through Sunday...".

Last year Augusta had a problem finding a leak that was dumping sewage into the Savannah river that boosted ecoli levels.  I think they finally found and fixed it just prior to Augusta 70.3.

I guess its not this incident in particular that has me concerned.  I convinced myself that they were cleaning up the river and wouldnt be all that bad by next year.  My confidence just took a little hit after seeing that something like this can and does still happen.

Apparently from your responses I am the only person that reacted this way.  Its cool. Thank you for making me feel like a douche.

Where you equally concerned about the Gulf oil spill last year and IM Florida?  That lasted way longer than a week!

I'm swimming in it in 2 weeks, not the greatest thing to happen but it should be fine. NYC Tri announced they're working with the local gov't. If they deem it fit to swim, it's good enough for me.

From their facebook page:

Hi All! Just want to ease some fears about the Hudson River…
We work with the DEP on a weekly basis to do water testing leading up the NYC Tri to ensure that athletes swim in safe conditions. The Hudson is a tidal river so we're hopeful that it will flush itself out. We'll continue to work closely with the DEP and will know more as the agency provides updates over the next few days. Stay tuned & hope for the best!"