Getty Image / Ezra Shaw / Ironman
The Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay on California’s picturesque Central Coast had 1437 competitors this year and 378 of them didn’t finish the race, mostly due to treacherous water currents during the 1.2-mile ocean swim that caused mayhem and led to many Ironmen needing to be rescued by boat.
To be fair, it is not unheard of for nearly 20% of an Ironman field to not finish the race. In 2015, 19% of the athletes in the Coeur d’Alene Ironman didn’t finish the race but two years prior in 2013 only 6% of the field were DNF.
In the case of the Ironman Morro Bay, however, it’s fascinating because the Ironman’s website describes the swim portion of Morro Bay as being near-perfection conditions. The course description claims “while the 1.2-mile swim is in the ocean, you’ll feel as though you’re in a saltwater lake.”
I’ve seen some wild eddies in the Great Lakes but for a course being called “a saltwater lake” conditions such as this were certainly unexpected. Actor Alec Merlino who appeared in 5 episodes of The White Lotus was at the Iron Man Morro Bay and shared this video of when “the current kicked up and was pulling everyone to a point where they were making no forward momentum.” This doesn’t look ideal for Ironman swimming conditions:
He claims the 1.2 mile swim took many of the competitors 1 to 1.5 hours to complete. The average swim time for a full Ironman race is 1hr16 minutes but this was a 70.3 (half Ironman). So the competitors were in the water for double the normal time of ~70 minutes. What seems to have happened, however, is a large chunk of the competitors got hit by powerful rogue currents.
Another video of the brutal swimming conditions went viral. It shows a kayaker forward paddling but with a current so strong the kayak itself is being pushed backward. This is all while the water temperature was a chilly 52 degrees:
@cometriwithannie not to mention the water was 52 degrees F / 11 celcius 🥶 Brutal day for the swim!!
For most Ironman competitors, the 1.2 mile swimming portion of the race is considered to be the easiest if only because it takes up 10% of the overall race time while the run typically accounts for 40% and the cycling portion takes up 50% of the overall times.
On Alec Merlino’s Instagram post, another person there described the brutal conditions. They wrote “I have PTSD from just witnessing so many athletes in cold shock and hypothermia. Legit looked like a war zone!” That person went on to say the resources to help athletes warm up were abhorrent. Another person said they went in the water expecting to hit a personal record and got out 20 minutes after their goal time had passed.
Athletes at the Ironman Morro Bay being in the 52-57 degree water for 90+ minutes is simply wild. Our bodies are not designed to withstand temperatures like that for a sustained period of time.