England
Crawling in the sewage? Dozens of triathletes contract diarrhea after swimming off UK coast
Participants in the World Triathlon Championship Series in Sunderland
© Will Matthews / Picture Alliance
Cycling, running, swimming, diarrhea – this is how the competition in British Sunderland went for 57 triathletes. An environmental agency wants to know the reason for the illness of the World Cup participants: Local suppliers are said to have pumped their waste water into the sea – bacteria included, of course.
At least 57 participants have after the competition of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Sunderland, UK complained of malaise and diarrhea. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, the health authorities confirmed this at the weekend. A total of around 2000 people started over the various distances on the last weekend in July.
Environment Agency: 39-fold concentration of coliform bacteria
An environmental agency wants to know the cause: the sea is polluted by sewage. A sample taken three days earlier contained 39 times the concentration of E. coli bacteria than in the previous month.
Australian competitor Jacob Birtwhistle shared the Environment Agency’s findings on Instagram, writing: “I’ve been feeling pretty bad since the race but that’s what happens when you swim in shit. The swim should have been cancelled.” Birtwhistle is not alone in his opinion. Other triathletes also vented their anger. “Now that explains why I spent Monday night with my head in the toilet after racing on Sunday morning!” The Guardian quoted one of the athletes as saying.
British Triathlon Association disagrees
The British health authority wants to investigate the incident and examine the samples of sick participants. However, the British Triathlon Association said its water samples had not revealed any abnormalities. It is said that the environmental agency took its samples outside of the stretch of coast in question and only published them after the competition. The local water supplier Northumbrian Water also denied possible abnormalities – since 2019 no bacteria or pollutants have been registered that could have affected the water quality. In contrast, a letter from the activist group to the Ministry of the Environment in June states that well over 800,000 tons of rainwater and sewage were discharged into the sea in 2021 alone.
There has long been a dispute between environmentalists and the authorities about the stretch of coast on Roker Beach where the triathlon took place.
The German triathlete Annika Koch finished third last Saturday over 750 meters swimming, 20 kilometers cycling and five kilometers running.
Sources: DPA; “Guardians“; BBC