Cork County Council seeking 'full account' of Sunday's Ironman event as it considers future as host sponsor

Cork County Council has said it is seeking a “full account” of Sunday’s Ironman event in Youghal following the deaths of two participants and that it will determine its future position as host sponsor after it receives such a report.

Two men died in separate incidents on Sunday morning during the swim portion of the 70.3km event.

They have been named as Ivan Chittenden, 64, who lived in Toronto, Canada and Brendan Wall, 45, who had been living in Solihull in England but who was originally from Meath.

In a statement this afternoon, Cork County Council said that, as host sponsor, it has supported Ironman triathlon events in Youghal and East Cork in 2022, 2023 and that currently planned for 2024.

Statement from Cork County Council on IRONMAN 2023: https://t.co/dr7yviwO6d pic.twitter.com/LHBWITS6Ue

— Cork County Council (@Corkcoco) August 22, 2023

The local authority stressed that it “does not have any responsibility for the management and operation of the event and any decisions related to the races proceeding, nor indeed the different elements of the individual races”.

“Cork County Council recognises that the fatalities may be the subject of a coroner’s inquest and is seeking a full account of the event from Ironman.

“The council will determine its future position as host sponsor once it is in receipt of and has considered same.

“In the meantime, Cork County Council will not be commenting further on the matter and we offer our sincerest condolences again to the families and friends of Mr Brendan Wall and Mr Ivan Chittenden,” county council continued.

The statement followed one from Darren Coombes, CEO of Triathlon Ireland - the national governing body for triathlons in Ireland – yesterday evening in which he said that technical officials from Triathlon Ireland told the organisers of Sunday’s Ironman event that they could not sanction the race after carrying out a water safety assessment.

In a statement on Sunday confirming the deaths of the two participants, Ironman Ireland expressed its sympathies to the families of the men who died.

A further statement issued yesterday by Ironman said that, on the morning of the race, “Ironman Ireland officials and the specific on-swim safety team carried out all standard safety protocol checks that are completed at every race and determined water conditions were safe for the swim to take place”.