Thunderstorm during an Ironman?????

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These pics make me want to cry.

Yep, we had thunder, lightning, hail and rain (not to mention WIND) at Boise and I was out there in the fields on the bike course wondering if we'd be pulled, but no the race went on...

Just hope you lubed up well enough.

 

Great pic of the Boise race.

Edited by BamaDC 2009-08-22 9:37 PM

Well, at least they wont see our tears

That was by far the most brutal weather I've been in. I don't think they could have stopped the race. What would everyone do? Just stand out there in the middle of nowhere. They could delay the start of a race or keep folks from heading out of T1 but after that I don't see how it would be possible to stop a race.

They did it with Kansas 70.3 the year before so that was why I wondered.

Are you in Kansas? When I searched Kansas, your name came up? If so, I'd love to connect. I'm doing Lawrence 1/2 in June.

Todd Natenberg
816-876-9184
[email protected]

During the pre-race meeting for IMLP they talked about what would happen if there was lightning in the area before the race started. I seem to remember them saying they would delay the race start by 30 minutes and if there were no lightning strikes nearby they would start the race. I think they said they may even cancel the swim if they deemed it to be unsafe.

They did stop the race (during the run portion) at Ironman Kansas 70.3 in 2008, but did it in a way where the athlete had to stop when the came around to the transition area/finish line. They did not pull people off the course. Everyone had to pass the transition/finish line area 4 times on the run, so when the decision was made, they just made people completely stop when they got there, no matter how much farther thay had to go.

There was a half iron distance in Kansas a few years back when a tornado warning popped up in the vicinity. It was a small race, but they did make the riders on the bike course stop and take shelter in a barn and called off the race completely after that.

 

We had thunder and lightening on the run during Ironman South Africa this year. The race went on.  They did think of stopping it because of the wind though but the after a call to the Met office they were told the worst had passed through. 

I think if it was at the start it would be cancelled as I beleive it is dangerous to be in the sea during a lightening storm.

I'm guessing it's a game-time decision by the race crew on any given day.  I got hailed on during the bike at IMC one year and they didn't stop the race - ouch!