Monday, May 10, 2010

Exertion & other safety hazards

it's tricky b/c you're dealing with a spectrum of motivations and lack of motivations and ranges of athletes. Without going into the psychology of the event too much, I remember one year being in the water --2004-- and actually praying that the novice swimmers would have the strength to give up the swim if they needed to because the conditions were incredibly dangerous. (Thank goodness a few did that year.)

Yes, we are dealing with an assortment of challenges. On one hand, we want to zealously promote this, but then, we have to be cautious... Agree. Have time to come up with some inclusive and realistic language/talking points...maybe talk to some physicians and physical therapists at Columbus County Hospitals (a sponsor?) for advice? Include a section on the website; would have to go through their legal, of course. Lots of lead time. Think the Memorial Day discussion "ahead" allows for more creativity.

Last year, I sort of spent August promoting how serious the event was. I think it worked. That's good to hear. ..Sorry to bring this up, but we need to expect some overexertion / injury incidents and be ready to work past them. I agree. This event is not going to be for everyone.

About the only thing we could do to really address this is post a volunteer every quarter mile or less, and that would be a nightmare (about 12 people) unless we find a group, like Friends of LAWA or Boy Scouts. Thing is, cool people who would be up for that would want to participate.

I've thought about the difficulty managing the logistics and agree on all your points. I didn't know if the EMS crew could just go up and down the crowd on golf carts and we could have the dam people keep a look out, as well. Also, we could maybe just better educate the participants themselves (although it's hard to know yourself when you're having a problem) by and through a link on training tips. Heat issues will be more of a problem in the training months, but during the "race" people tend to push themselves more and drink less so it gets heightened then with the push of adrenaline, too.

Sounds like we need a Safety Committee to meet separately. It would need a Chair who is in the health field, is level-headed and can get their head around how to work with "1,000 patients."

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