Two men who lost their lives when they were taking part in Ironman Cork, in Youghal, last year died from acute cardiorespiratory failure due to drowning, an inquest hearing in Ireland has been told.
The two men – Brendan Wall (45) who was based in the UK but was from Ireland and Ivan Chittenden (64) from Canada – died during the swim leg of the race on the morning of Sunday, August 20th, last.
The swim leg started in testing conditions in the aftermath of Storm Betty on Friday night into Saturday. After the men got into difficulty, with fatal consequences, the event continued to a conclusion, having already well commenced by the time the tragedy began to unfold and its full extent became clear.
Cork South Coroner Frank O'Connell told the inquest hearing at Midleton Courthouse on Tuesday that some evidence was being heard in other that the families of the two deceased could register their deaths fully almost a year on.
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However, the inquest proper would not take place until a later date, yet to be determined. While the inquest was down 'for mention' on September 24th next, that would be a procedural hearing at which a date for the full inquest may be set.
Mr Wall (45) was from Cardath in Co Meath while Mr Chittenden (64) was from Brantford near Toronto. While legal representatives from Ironman and Triathlon Ireland were present at the hearing, the coroner said they had been informed out of "courtesy".
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The inquest process would not go into detail about how the event was organised or any related controversies, he said.
Garda Sean Killigrew told the inquest he was on duty at the local Garda station in Youghal on the morning of August 20th when he got a call asking him to attend at the Ironman event, where there had been two fatalities.
When he arrived at the medical centre at Market Sq at approximately 9.25am the remains of the two men were in cubicles. Mr Wall had been pronounced dead at 9.18am and Mr Chittenden at 9.09am.
State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said she carried out postmortems on the remains of the two men at Cork University Hospital the following day. Both had died from acute cardiorespiratory failure due to drowning.
Mr Chittenden had also suffered a mild blunt force trauma to the left side of his head, causing significant bruising. It was possible this blow may have temporarily undermined his awareness in the water.
The inquest was due back before the coroner's court for mention on September 24th next.
