The bike leg has the most number of accidents due to problems on crowd control.
Although the medical team for the IronMan 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship expressed readiness for this Sunday’s mammoth international race in Cebu, safety should start with the participant himself, said Dr. Peter Mancao, Medical Director of the premiere triathlon event.
Mancao said that participants must train hard, follow a schedule, enjoy the race, and most importantly, stay safe.
However, ‘stay safe’ accounts to more than being vigilant on inevitable accidents during the race.
“When you feel there is something wrong, you have to stop. Those are signs that your body is telling you. Just enjoy the race. Don’t take it too hard,” Mancao explained.
He revealed that the Emergency Response Unit Foundation (ERUF) will be the backbone of all emergency responses.
More or less 20 ambulances will be deployed on the route which will cover the cities on Lapu-Lapu, Mandau, Cebu and Talisay while others will serve as aid stations on the bike track.
Fifty volunteers composed of doctors, nurses and paramedics will also be on standby. “We have a prepared team, and also we have to make sure that our team is well-trained,” Mancao said.
Local government units (LGUs) of Cebu City, Talisay City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, and Cebu Province are also sending their respective health officers and disaster risk reduction and management officers to assist.
The same as last year, all hospitals will be on full alert on race day.
Mancao said these hospitals are instructed that the nearest one will be first responders in case of emergency.
Meanwhile, three doctors on big bikes will also be sweeping the route and will be checking if all ambulances are in position early morning of August 7, before the start of the race, and will be responding immediately in case of emergency together with the ambulances.
Last year, most problems that needed immediate medical attention were accidents that mostly happened during the bike leg.
Mancao explained that some spectators stand on the center island of the South Road Poperties (SRP), and go after celebrities, which cause road accidents.
Spectators crossing the tracks are ran over by bikers, causing the latter to fall and get injured. Some children, scrambling after plastic water bottles being thrown by the bikers and runners also pose problems.
To prevent such accidents from happening again, Mancao said marshals will be guarding the sides of the roads to prevent spectators from crossing.
With the Asia-Pacific Championship, Mancao said, they won’t have a problem on overly pumped-up participants.
“On the contrary, most of the participants of Asia-Pacific Championship, they qualified for this race. These are the elite racers,” Mancao said./USJ-R Intern Dafne N. Wenceslao