Safety sacrificed to allow more racers

Overcrowding of races is getting to be the usual practice as the number of running and biking enthusiasts continues to grow. Unfortunately, overcrowding exposes participants to more, albeit avoidable, risks.

In a recent duathlon with run and bike segments, for example, race overcrowding led to serious injuries. My fiancée and I crashed. By the time we crashed we had seen 3-4 other casualties from previous bicycle crashes.

According to the organizers, the duathlon had around 480 registered participants, with 474 of them starting the race. With five injured riders, it meant that 1 percent of all racers were hurt during the event. I believe this was not a coincidence but was the  direct cause of the overcrowding.

The bike course was a 2.5-kilometer, two-lane route along Daang Hari in Cavite. With 474 starting participants, it translated to a density of 190 bike racers per km of road. Consider, too, that three types of bikes—triathlon bikes, racers, and mountain bikes—were allowed to be used in this race and the participants included both elite and amateur riders, biking at varying speeds from 20-40+ km/hr. Six loops were required to finish the race and bikers were travelling at top speed (40+ km) in opposite directions and sometimes passing inches from each other because of race course congestion. Accidents were waiting to happen and did occur—some at high speed, leading to serious injuries.

Slower participants had to constantly avoid being hit by the faster riders and the very narrow turn-around points also became accident prone areas. In addition to this, in the later loops, private and emergency vehicles shared the “closed course” with the bikers. Our crash was triggered by the panic over an ambulance coming from behind us inside the “closed course.” Earlier, we had a close call when some private vehicles crossed our paths inside the “closed course” to enter their private driveways.

The accidents that occurred during this event were a wake-up call for all race organizers to design courses that would safely accommodate both the number and types of race participants.

I am a finisher of CamSur Ironman 70.3 (2009), Subic International Standard Distance, Xtri and numerous races and I fully understand the risks involved, but I felt that the race where my fiancée got hurt was the most dangerous one I have attended. As stakeholders of the sport, please let us prioritize safety above all else.

I hope all stakeholders from race organizers, sponsors and participants learn this lesson and accept only as many registrants as their course can safely accommodate. Bicycle races are not like a running event where the dangers of overcrowding are minimal. People can, and did, seriously get hurt.

—MARTIN REYNOSO,

martin_p_reynoso@yahoo.com