Quartermax Tragedy

Yesterday was the Who Tri's Harder? race. I woke up and was excited because at the time I knew it would be a great day. I was awake, ready to race and counting the hours until the start. I got to the race site around 6am and set up my transition area. Afterwards, I met up with my parents and began the pre race routine that happens with my parents around, which primarily entails telling my dad to be quiet as he continually tells me to keep my head up in the water. With a hour to go before the race, I went for a warm up swim and felt great the whole way through the water. I then met up with two clients who decided to come see what I do. The next hour went by quickly as I went off by myself to prepare mentally for the race.Running late, our swim wave was gathered on the beach minutes away from starting the race, when it happened. Standing approx. 25 yards from the finish, I hear a frantic screaming that is different than the normal yelling of praise to athletes exiting. Immediately myself and 10 other athletes race over and as we near I hear the words I never thought I would hear. "He's under, He went down right there! Find him!" What happened next was nothing short of controlled insanity. We were joined with 100 other athletes and, if as we had done it thousand times before, we formed a search line and in 7 feet of water we found him. As I popped up for air I was face to face with the guy we were searching for. Instantly we dragged the man ashore and while others were making room, myself and another athlete began CPR. It was only about 30 - 45 secs before the paramedics arrived and relieved us of our duties. 30 - 45 minutes passed by as we waited for news and watched as they airlifted him out. We were informed that although the swim would be shortened, we would continue on in the spirit of the sport. Emotionally and physically spent, I decided that although I was in no shape or form the race, that I would push on and do my best to race anyway. Needless to say, the swim was horrible with thoughts of what just happened fresh in mind. As I exited the swim I felt overwhelmed with how many people stuck around to cheer us on. The bike also started out horrible as my chain fell off and I couldnt get my foot into the left shoe until 5 miles into the course. After that point, I was able to get into a rhythm with only one exception, where I passed a guy that was by my side in the rescue and looking in each others eyes we just nodded and then I was hit with a wave of emotions that caused me to lose it for a minute. The run was the only portion that went of well, I ran strong and felt great to the finish.After the race, we were informed that the man that we had pulled out had passed away at noon. It was a sobering reality and a heavy cost that was paid that day. I feel pain and sorrow for not being able to do more, and my thoughts go out to his family, friends and also to the race director, staff and fellow athletes that were affected by this tragedy. I must also say that I am proud to be part of a community that, when trouble arises, drops it all to rush to aid.