Ironman St. George : Official Thread (Page 32)

I got this blog from the 'other site'  closest I've seen to actually describing the swim.

At 3:30am RAR and I headed out to Sandhollow Reservoir to do a little volunteering/support for the IronMan swimmers.  I have never had the opportunity to see 1500 people swimming in one spot before, so I was pretty exited to get my feet wet, um, so to speak.  The closest thing that I have even come to 1500 people swimming in the the same spot was the Flogging Molly concert that I went to in Mesa AZ.  Lets just say that I saw shoes being ejected from the pit and several fellers leaving for some medical attention.

It was dark, and colder than I was prepared for.  We were joined by RAR's 13 year old son,  a designated lifeguard, and her father.  That's right - her dad came as a chaperon.  He kept insisting that she was a freshman, but c'mon now.  Let's not church anything up.  She was a 9th grader.  No big deal.  How bad could this thing really go, right?

The start time was approaching, and the sun was starting to rise.  A light breeze started to pick up just as the sun crested Mollies Nipple (that is not a spelling error - the USGS Quad map calls it Mollies, not Molly's.  I guess that there must be several of them).  The gun went off the pro's were in the water and the wind picked up.  There was some bantering back and forth on the radio's on whether or not the main group of swimmers should get in the water.  A giant dust cloud was approaching from the north.  I was nervous.  More banter.  Ranger Rick confirmed that the dust cloud was just smoke from the Toquerville fire and the main race dude, the one with the accent, gave the go ahead.

No sooner were the swimmers swimming, the wind storm arrived.  I managed to snatch a couple of videos before the wind got too crazy.

Exhibit A - Hey cool.  Look at all of the swimmers.  Wow, the wind is picking up a bit....

Exhibit B - Uh, wow - this is getting gnarly.  Our first swimmer was bailing...

The phone went away at this point.    The wind got way worse and we started to take on waves coming over the bow of the boat.  I was soaking wet and freezing and the chaos had just begun.  Our lifeguard was in a panic and was freezing.  I tossed a wet suit to her and told her to put her game face on because things were about to get epic.  Swimmers were signaling for help and I was tossing a ski rope out to them.  I caught a swimmer with every cast.  We had a boat full of swimmers and a then swamped kayaker showed up and needed help.  It took myself and the lifeguard's dad to get the kayak emptied out.

I have seen some crazy days on a boat, but this - this was scary.  As we headed back to the dock to drop off our first run of swimmers I was hoping like mad that my three swimmers were okay.  The dock was crazy.  We managed to get all of the swimmers off of the boat without smashing anybody and with them went RAR's son (seasick and barfing) and the lifeguard.  That's right, I said the lifeguard.  Gone.

We headed out for another boat load and started taking on all sorts of water.  The waves were crashing over the bow of the boat faster than that the bilge pump could handle.  We were standing in water, in the boat.  We decided that we needed to get the boat on the trailer and let it drain or we were going to have some troubles.  Another boat had arrived at the dock and was getting it's kicked so I jumped off the front of the boat and swam to shore.  By the time I got the trailer in the water, the boat was so full of water that we couldn't get it on the trailer.  It took 10 guys and a skid steer to drag and push it onto the trailer.  I was standing in the boat - in it - in water up to my knees.  Two other boats had been beached, and there were talks of two ranger boats that had completely sunk.
With some stroke of luck, my phone still worked and Fisher's lovely bride answered her phone and confirmed that Fisher, Dave and Dave's dad had made it out of the water alive.  Seriously, I can not believe that no one drowned in the end.

Fisher and Dave finished the IronMan with six minutes to spare.  My hat is off.  Seriously, anyone that made the swim is one gnarly individual.  Nice work.  I was in a boat, with a life jacket on, and I was convinced that my wife would be making a life insurance claim.

Many thanks to the good help the lifegaurd's dad turned out to be.  You are a good man.

RAR's boat?  He'll be making a claim to the insurance for sure.  Let's just say the damage was significant.

Wowsers.

yup.

http://sabrosacycles.blogspot.ca/

I heard people were in the water for almost 3 hours.  That's not right or safe.   

WTC just created a wetsuit division for IMTX.  It comes with a 10 minute delayed start behind the others.  The water temp right now is 84 degrees.  Seems safe right?     

im going to be an A$$ right now but this thread is dead and whoever can beat me up.  whatever.  

people cut the bike and run course too.  my wife got pulled at mile 66 and witnessed some really shady stuff.  I know someone who ran their fastest IM and mary ever. "passed me" and beat me by 45min but i never saw him on the run course after lap 1.  I've looked at some of the results... you biked 810 and smashed a 3:30 mary? you biked 6:17 and ran 3:16 ( much more believable)  

some things don't add up.  anyway, its over, who cares.  Were headed to cda so she can fulfill her dream. 

We were at the finishing line watching the first finishers come in......after a few of the top guys(can't remember the exact order) came in an age grouper comes trotting down the chute. The announcer had to tell him he still had more laps to go. We were all sitting there wondering how you loose track of loops on a marathon. He must have been out of it.

You will love CdA.  Great venue, awesome community support

GREAT!  Although, that was my plan at IMSG, and this was my Dh's first DNF, ever.  No pics after 8:00 am......

I'm sorry that happend.  That wind storm was so weird and out of no where. I think it was the super moons fault.  It was the closest to earth ever or something like that.

  I did CDA last year so I know all the places to run around to for the good pics.  Love the area and finishing chute! looooonnggg  

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this epic event.

I put a race report up for this one:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=440947

Good job to all and hopefully our next races will feel easier compared to that! Good luck, all.

Ryan

Great job Ryan! This was one of those days where you just have to throw the time expectations out the window and be proud of finishing with such extraordinary conditions.

Brad