23 August 2009
Tragedy has overshadowed the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines triathlon race in Camarines Sur.
Atty. Juan Miguel Vasquez, member of Team Alamat and President of Permanent Plans, was found unconscious near the shore of the Cable Park Lake at the CamSur Watersports Complex more than an hour after the start of the race. Vazquez was rushed to a nearby hospital but efforts to revive him failed. Heart attack is believed to be the cause of his death. Vazquez was running the 1.9 km. (1.2 mi.) swim leg of the triathlon event for Team Alamat when the incident happened.
Vazquez's wife, Judith Duavit-Vazquez, is a member of the Board of Directors of GMA Network.
Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand won the pro division of the Ironman 70.3 Philippines triathlon with a time of 3:51:25 nearly a minute ahead of Chris McCormack (3:52:18) and more than a minute ahead of Cameron Brown (3:52:31).
More on the tragedy in CamSur in this GMA News flash report by Mariz Umali.
This is the report filed by Chino Trinidad for the GMA Weekend Report. It shows RP Olympic swimmer Akiko Thompson saying how difficult the triathlon event was. Her comment gives a clue as to the race condition that confronted Juan Miguel Vazquez, "Saludo talaga ko sa mga triathlete. it's even harder than a marathon. Three disciplines you have to master tsaka yung heat factor, I think it's very hard on the heart."
Nonoy Jopson was the top Pinoy finisher of the event.
This article by the Manila Bulletin entitled Jamby's kin dies in Camarines tilt identifies Juan Miguel Vazquez as a first cousin of Senator Jamby Madrigal and quotes an unnamed eyewitness on what happened to the tragedy-stricken triathlete moments before he fell unconscious.
"Vasquez is a first cousin of Senator Madrigal. His mother, Ma. Luisa 'Ising' Madrigal-Vasquez, is the sister of the senator’s father Antonio Madrigal.
A witness said he saw Vasquez swim to shore and slump down on side and collapse, according to website Spot.ph.
'He looked like he was resting,' said the witness, 'but after a while he looked like he had stiffened and had stopped moving. It took about 20 minutes before anyone noticed anything was wrong and before the paramedics and the ambulance came.'"
UPDATE
24 August 2009
In tonight's edition of ABS-CBN's Bandila, Dr. Floresto Arizala, Jr., NBI Medico-Legal Chief, confirmed that Atty. Juan Miguel Vazquez died of massive acute myocardial infarction or massive heart attack.
Although some contusions were found near his right eye and in his arms, foul play was ruled out by the NBI.
This is the Wikipedia article on Myocardial Infarction and this is the one from medicine.net.
In this GMA News report by Chino Trinidad, it is said that death among triathletes while in competition do happen. According to the American College of Cardiology, of 14 triathlon sudden deaths in the United States from October 2006 to January 2008, 13 occurred during the swimming leg of the event. Chino reports that according to experts this is most probably due to the inability of swimmers to rest while in the water unlike when you're biking or running on land when you can stop and take time to rest.
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what will happen now to all the permanent plan holder?
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