THE OKLAHOMA RIVER

(EDIT: An UPDATE. The Oklahoma State Department of Health has asked all competitors (ill or not) to complete the following online survey to help them determine what happened: Survey here.)



First off, we really do appreciate the efforts of the race committee, the race director, and USAT in hosting the PATCO event. The race was well organized, and speaking as someone who found it hard to organize a simple running race (years ago), I have an immense amount of respect for triathlon race directors and committees - it's a tough and largely thankless job, and we wouldn't have a sport without them.

Earlier I wrote that any media exposure for triathlon was good. Maybe I'll have to reconsider that. Some interesting news reports following the PATCO race, and some very different takes on what's considered 'normal' in the sport of triathlon. See below. For the record, in my experience, it's not normal for people to be sick after the race, despite what some people claim in the reports below. We had 11 athletes out of 35 who reported illness following PATCO, or almost one third of the team. We all arrived from different parts of the country, on different planes, through different airports, and there wasn't one meal where we all ate at the same restaurant.

Aside from the developing story, it's interesting to see the different ways in which this is being reported. It's possibly an example of bias in the media, or maybe just an example of varying degrees of the quality of reporting.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOX NEWS

KSBI-TV

SLOWTWITCH

USA TODAY

THE OKLAHOMAN
(NOTE: I'm not sure they're living up to their name as "The State's Most Trusted News")

Happy reading, and please do whatever you can to keep our waterways clean and accessible for everyone.