UltraTriSA

Thanks guys, I appreicate the quick and open feedback. I won't lie, I was concerned when the Safety officials made the call for the Ultra guys to swim. However I have to listen to my safety team first and formost. I can't pick and choose as to what I want to listen to and what not to listen to. Yes it possibly was a questionable call, but they felt that the danger was not a big concern. My Water safety team are there to advise and make the call and they are the professionals. They are the same ones to call off the 70.3 swim 3 years ago. From the lifeguard report, we had 72 competitors leave the swim course without completing it, some returning with lifeguards and others on their own. I know if we had cancelled the swim we would have had allot more grumpy athletes. However with less risk of no swim! Anyway, as mentioned, the call was made by the professionals we have there to make the call. Im not passing the buck, but mearly stating the process we have inplace as to who decides what in these situations. Luckily the next 3 events are all in Dams, so we hope to see you there without rough water conditions and hopefully less heat! Thanks again B-Active Sports Team

Hey Guys. Thanks for the feedback This weekends event was possibly our most testing event in the 10 year history of the Ultra Series. From an extremely tough swim call for the Sprint and Ultra races, to the heat and humidity. While we can appreciate everyones opinion on the swim call, it came down to our Safety Officials, namely SAPS Search & Rescue and our Durban Surf Lifeguard Team. Both are extremely experienced and know what they are doing. They made the call for both swims, based on the danger aspect. The swim was tough, but they felt it was suitable for an Ultra athlete who should be easily competent for a 1.9km sea swim, then most should be able to finish the shortened 1.2km course. The problem we as organisers are faced with these days is new athletes attending events who are not competent in sea swimming and can just make a 1.9km swim in a pool. Our safety team and I are of the opinion that competitors need to be able to swim in the sea competently , not only in perfect conditions like we had in 2017, but in other moderate conditions as well. We obviously don't know how everyone can swim and hence we allowed competitors to decide and to pull out of the Swim in Sunday but to still compete the Bike and run. The risk therefore falls onto the competitors, as only they know their ability in the sea. We are not for one moment saying we will send it out in dangerous conditions, but we have to consider the type of event and the average athlete competing. In regard to other comments re the TinMan Series and the Surf conditons at Suncoast beach, we have only cancelled 6 swim events there in 16 years. So that is 7 events out of approx 40 events held at the same venue (Suncoast) Yes it is a risk of the swim being cancelled, but not more so than having an accident or injuring yourself while training. We had 3 backup swim plans for Sunday, however unusually the surf actually got worse the further down you went to Ushaka. The only other suitable place to swim would have been on the right of Uhaka pier , by Vetchies Pier and we will be looking into this as a possible option. However moving this, brings up numerous other problems for the bike / transition etc. While yes 70.3 have done this, they also charge 50% more an entry and have 3000 competitors to our 300. We welcome further feedback on the Ultra Series, as we can always improve. Thank you for the support and feedback. B-Active Sports Team.