But I still have 94 monkeys to go

Headline in the New York Post today. I feel terrible for the athletes who, after all that training, could be facing a 2/3 Ironman tomorrow. But you have to question whether the organizers focused on the potential profit in an NYC Ironman to the exclusion of participant safety. And what are the chances they will offer any kind of refund?

You could say “Well, this was an emergency situation, no one could have known.” But this isn’t the first gross Hudson incident. It’s suspicious to me that NY health officials would close the public beaches (due to threat of exposure) but say it’s just fine for IM athletes to swim in the SAME WATER. Maybe they’re worried Ironman Inc. will expect a refund for their permits?

The right thing to do would be to offer all these athletes guaranteed entry into another M-dot event. It wouldn’t be cheap and it wouldn’t fix the problem, but it’s the right thing to do.