Sunday’s New York City Triathlon, which starts in the Hudson River and winds through the neighborhood, has been cancelled due to expectations for dangerously high heat this weekend. Temperatures are set to reach the high 90s on both Saturday and Sunday.
“After exhausting all options to mitigate athlete, volunteer, spectator and staff exposure alike, we are unable to provide either a safe event experience or an alternate race weekend,” the race organizers wrote on their website. The triathlon involves a 1,500-meter swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run. People have died during the race before.
Wise move. I have watched the triathlon several times and greatly enjoyed it, but this heat will be really extreme. By merely participating the athletes are putting themselves at risk, but this would be going above and beyond.
I feel like there have been several times where heat has been an issue. Perhaps they can move it to September?
The NYRR 10 mile race on Saturday was also cancelled 🙁
It’s a 1500 meter swim (.9 miles) vs 14,000 (~8-9 mile swim).
Thanks, fixed.
What was not addressed was the temperature of the Hudson River. If the temperature was above 78 degrees participants who wore a wet suit could not qualify to win an age group award. if it was above 82 degrees, no participant would be allowed to wear a wet suit. Most triathletes – 90% – use wet suits so the change would be unexpected and very disruptive. This would increase the risks of the swim, which is the most dangerous portion of the race, and I suspect this is why the race was cancelled. In previous years, with wet suits, participants have died during the swim.If participants suddenly could not wear their wet suit, some would end up panicking in the water, resulting in the danger of many unexpected water emergencies.
I have participated in a few tri’s where the race organizers disallowed wet suits an hour before the start…no big deal and not disruptive at all.
I suspect that the heat out on the bike and run is why the race was cancelled, particularly for the groups with the later start times.
I think the water temperature is pretty far down the list of issues here. That could be roughly predicted weeks ago – as per the expression “boil the ocean,” a few days of extreme heat is not going to dramatically change the river’s temperature – they likely could have predicted the river’s temperature within a few tenths of a degree weeks ago. The air temperature in NY has not varied that far above normal for most of the past month so a prediction made on June 15 likely would be very accurate.
LETS THEM RACE. It’s not an Ironman. These folks have been training for months . Start it earlier and let the athletes decide what they want to do.
Participants made reservations well in advance (plane; hotel; etc.). In the past, when extreme temps played a factor, the organizers would turn off the clocks, signifying that it was not a competitive race. This would allow participants to make their own decision on whether to participate or not. Let the participant decide.
Well Said
From what I read in the press, the triathalon organizers wanted to go ahead and were willing to make concessions. The organizers and participants always knew it would be hot; it is July after all. It was DeBlasio and the city who refused to have the race. DeBlasio is trying to look presidential perhaps? In an age when the President has become a dictator.
I think it is likely that the City was concerned about the likelihood of medical issues and thus stress on EMS, hospitals etc.
And this on top of medical emergencies citywide due to heat.