About 300 athletes who participated in the swim portion of the Morro Bay Ironman triathlon did not finish due to the strong tidal currents, forcing many of them to be pulled out of the water.
“This being my first Ironman event, this is not what I expected at all,” said Caelan Barranta of Vandenberg Village.
Nineteen hundred people participated in this year’s Ironman triathlon. Barranta had been prepping for the race since January, but when she got to the halfway point of the swim, she noticed something unusual.
“I was using a ship as my landmark and looking at the orange buoys in front of me and was confused as to why I wasn’t getting any closer to them,” Barranta said.
She expected it would take about 40 minutes to finish the swim. She got pulled out by a kayaker after an hour and 30 minutes and did not finish.
“There were other people going back and forth picking up other swimmers,” Barranta said.
Keats McGonigal, Ironman's Vice President of Operations, says there was a higher rate of people not finishing the swim portion in this year’s triathlon compared to what they typically see.
Keats says they knew the tide was going to be coming in during the event. However, as the swim course went on, they noticed that even kayakers were struggling to paddle against the current and that it would present a challenge to later swimmers.
“I started making that long walk back all the way to the transition area and I noticed there were so many other people with wetsuits walking away with their bikes,” Barranta said.
“When I was on the bike chatting with some people and they said it took so much longer,” said Kayla Worbel, Cal Poly athlete and Ironman participant.
Worbel finished the swim course but it took her 15 minutes longer than when she competed last year.
“There’s actually a pole in the middle of the course in the bay and I was swimming by and there’s mussels all down the front which hurt really bad and there’s people just bear hugging it. If you’re not a strong swimmer, it is scary,” Worbel said.
Ironman swim staff, Harbor Patrol, and the Coast Guard were all involved in rescuing people from the water. Warming centers were ready as well as medical personnel staff who treated and released people.
Water temperature readings taken at different locations throughout the race course before it started measured 58 degrees which was within Ironman’s threshold for acceptable temperatures. The water temperature did change over the next couple of hours but never got to a point where they felt there was a risk to the athletes.
Ironman officials say that in 2023, the swim course was too shallow, so this year it was moved closer to the middle of the channel which happened to be where the tidal current was strongest.
Keats says they will be looking at the tides and the swim start time next year. They’re also still taking feedback from athletes and the agencies involved in the rescues.
Ironman says the 300 athletes who did not finish the race will receive free entry to a future Ironman triathlon.
