Not To Get Overly Dramatic, But ...

... could've just as easily been me.

Man dies while swimming in Cohasset's first triathlon

By Lisa Wangsness and David Abel , Globe Staff | July 8, 2007

COHASSET – A man in his 30s died Sunday while swimming in the first leg of this South Shore town’s first triathlon.

Neither local officials nor the race’s organizers would identify the victim or explain how he died.

“We’re not able to discuss any details at this time in consideration of the family,” said Bill Burnett, director of the Cohasset Triathlon at Sandy Beach, in a statement. “Our prayers are with the athlete’s family on this tragic day.”

Officials from the Cohasset Fire Department said paramedics treated six people for unspecified injuries from the race. They took three people in advanced life support ambulances to South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth but would not identify any of those transported.

Edwin Carr, vice chairman of the town’s board of selectman, said the board plans to review whether another race should be held next year.

“From the town’s perspective, we share in the grief that the family must be going through and, of course, send our condolences,” he said.

More than 700 people registered for the triathlon, which consisted of a .25-mile swim in a cove off Sandy Beach in water no deeper than 9 feet; a 12.5-mile bike course through the winding roads and along the rocky cliffs of Cohasset and North Scituate; and a 3.2-mile run that looped around Little Harbor.

The event drew first-time triathlon participants and more experienced athletes, event organizers said. They said they did not know the experience level of the man who died.

The race began at about 8 a.m. Sunday and raised about $60,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

“I had so many people come up and say what a great race it was,” he said, but could not provide any more information about the tragedy.

Katie Bolaher, the beach manager of Sandy Beach, said the association that oversees the beach declined to provide lifeguards for the event, in part because of liability issues. “Seven hundred people on a quarter-mile long beach—that’s a lot,” Bolaher said. “They’re overexerting their bodies all at once in the water; that’s a huge liability, huge.”
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company