First funeral of men who died at Ironman Youghal event to take place on Thursday
Ivan Wall Brendan Chittenden And
The funeral of one of two men who died at the Ironman Youghal event on Sunday will take place on Thursday.
Two men — Ivan Chittenden from Toronto in Canada, and Meath native Brendan Wall, who lived in Solihull in England and had family living in East Cork — died during the race.
Mr Chittenden was a retired accountant who had taken part in several endurance challenges around the world.
Mr Wall, who was originally from Cardrath in Slane, worked as a sales director for a company in England. He will be laid to rest on Thursday in Grangegeeth in Meath. He is survived by his fiancée, parents and three siblings.
Mr Wall got engaged to fiancée Tina earlier this year. He will lie in repose at Watters Funeral Home in Collon on Wednesday from 4pm to 8pm. His funeral mass will take place on Thursday at 1pm in the Church of St Brigid, Grangegeeth in Slane with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.
Mr Wall was a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin where he studied manufacturing and mechanical engineering. He also completed an MBA at the University of Hull.
He commenced work as a sales director at Top Tubes Ltd in Wednesbury in England in May of this year having previously been employed by Cavan based cutting tools manufacturer, the ATA Group.
Top Tubes Ltd Managing Director April Pearson Myatt extended her heartfelt condolences to Mr Wall's fiancée and family of their late employee.
In a statement, the ATA Group said that they learned of the death of their much admired former colleague with "great sadness".
"Brendan was Sales and Marketing Director, EMEA from April 2020 until March of this year. He was a great co-worker and was very well-liked and admired by all those who worked with him at ATA.
"Most importantly, Brendan was a gentleman and always dealt with those who he encountered in the most professional and courteous manner. Our thoughts are with his partner, Tina and his family in Meath who will be grieving his tragic loss at this time. May he rest in peace.”
Mr Wall and Mr Chittenden were among seven people who have died in Ironman competitions across the world since the start of the year, while an eighth person died on August 10 after getting into difficulty in Ironman Tallinn in Estonia on August 6.
Mr Chittenden was a native of Brantford, Ontario and had studied business at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. He was a senior partner in EY prior to his retirement two years ago having first started in the London, Ontario office as a co-op student in May 1979.
He was a keen triathlete and had previously competed in Ironman events. Mr Chittenden, who was married with a family, also ran in the Boston and Dallas marathons.
It comes as Triathlon Ireland told race organisers of the Ironman event on Sunday morning that it was not possible to sanction the race because of "adverse conditions" on the day.
The board of Triathlon Ireland met on Monday night and issued a statement. Triathlon Ireland is the national governing body for triathlons here. Part of its role is to sanction for club and commercial races to proceed.
Chief executive of the organisation, Darren Coombes, said it is “reeling” from the deaths of the two men.
He continued: “For the Ironman Cork event, in line with normal practice, Triathlon Ireland Technical Officials attended before the start of the race to review the conditions and carry out a water safety assessment. Due to adverse conditions on the day, Triathlon Ireland Technical Officials confirmed to the race organisers that it was not possible to sanction the race.
“As there is an investigation ongoing, at this stage it would not be appropriate for us to make any further comment only to state that Triathlon Ireland will provide any assistance that the authorities require.”
Following the race on Sunday, several competitors raised concerns about the conditions of the water for the 1.9km swim course. Some described being slammed by waves in the first half of the swim, while others opted to get out of the water.
In 2019, a decision was taken to cancel the swim part of the Ironman because of weather conditions at the time in Youghal.
The statement from Triathlon Ireland came after Ironman Ireland defended its safety measures for the endurance event.
Ironman Ireland said that its "on-swim safety team” established that water conditions were safe on Sunday morning for the swim element of the Ironman competition, after “all standard safety protocol checks that are completed at every race”.
The organisation said that a decision was taken, however, to shorten the distance of the swim “due to prevailing weather conditions”.
The statement said this was “as a further precaution to ensure that the significant water safety assets – such as kayaks, lifeguards and medical boats – could be concentrated over a smaller area while also allowing swimmers the ability to swim with the help of a more favourable current and incoming tide after the first 100m.”
Ironman Ireland said that weather conditions during the weekend were monitored carefully, with a decision to defer the Ironman 70.3 challenge to Sunday “to provide a safer race for athletes”.
The organisation said it is providing ongoing assistance to the families of Mr Chittenden and Mr Wall.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, said that the full facts of how the two men lost their lives in Youghal must be established.
Mr McGrath said the deaths of the two men were a terrible tragedy and said: “It is important that the full facts of what happened are established and that any questions that are being asked are comprehensibly answered.”
Cork County Council confirmed to the that it will sponsor next year’s Ironman in Youghal, scheduled to take place on August 11, 2024.
The spokesman said: “Cork County Council has a Host Sponsorship Agreement with Ironman for 2022, 2023 and 2024.”