Helene has forced IRONMAN organizers to postpone some events for the triathlon as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of its arrival in Chattanooga.

IRONMAN Chattanooga is scheduled to begin on Friday, September 27th and end with a day of celebration on Monday, September 30th.

The organizers have published the following announce online about changes to triathlon:

“Based on the forecast of significant rainfall and increased flow rates in the Tennessee River, IRONMAN and local city officials have determined that in the interest of the athletes and water safety, it is necessary to cancel the swimming portion of the IRONMAN Chattanooga Triathlon on Sunday. As Therefore, the race will begin with a cycling time trial start.”

The race begins with the swimming portion, followed by cycling and running.

With the swimming portion of the triathlon canceled, IRONMAN athlete Patrick Brady says it’s difficult for professional athletes like him to know where you stand in the competition.

“We usually race to see who can cross the finish line first, so we race against the competition around us,” Brady said. “With the start of the time trial, there could be 15 minutes between the guy who goes first and the guy who goes last. So you really don’t know where you stand overall.”

As for timing a full Ironman for future training and racing, Brady says it will hurt some competitors, but not all.

“I think it affects beginners the most because they want to complete an IRONMAN. They want to fully swim, cycle and run and have trained for this. I think some people will probably feel like this isn’t the case. It feels the same as if they were swimming; but you prepare for what you think and you just have to prepare for what’s going to happen when you cross the finish line, I guess “You’re still an IRONMAN in people’s eyes,” Brady said.

Nick Carey and Nick Stephens are taking part in the race for the first time. Both men said they were disturbed by the news.

“This is my first time doing a full distance Ironman, so it was particularly disappointing,” said Nick Carey.

“It is a dream of ours to complete an IRONMAN. My boyfriend and I, Joel Hurd, we’ve been friends in Colorado since we were in high school together. While we were training for events, we had this on our calendar and we wanted to do it together.” “Doing this together,” Nick Stephens said.

However, the ten-year partnership between IRONMAN and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga brought a silver lining, allowing both participants to experience a full-fledged triathlon.

The YMCA will open two pools at 5 a.m. Sunday to give first-time participants the full IRONMAN feel.

“(I’m) super excited to still be able to swim in the event,” Nick Carey said.

“When the swim was canceled we really felt like we wanted to do the whole thing because we didn’t want to say we missed it and only did two of the training sessions. “We’re really excited and grateful that the Y opened the pool and try to make ourselves a little crazier all the time,” Nick Stephens said.

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