{"id":430,"date":"2026-06-01T23:33:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=430"},"modified":"2026-06-01T23:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:33:46","slug":"sf-triathlon-changes-starting-procedures-1-year-after-competitor-was-paralyzed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=430","title":{"rendered":"SF triathlon changes starting procedures 1 year after competitor was paralyzed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The annual Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon has changed its starting procedures for this year\u2019s race, the first year after a competitor was paralyzed by a collision at the start of the event.<\/p>

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It\u2019s been exactly one year since Jose Perez, a firefighter from Chicago and veteran triathlete, jumped into the water to begin his race, only for another competitor to land directly on Perez\u2019s head. The strike instantly paralyzed him, leaving him floating in San Francisco Bay for what \u201cfelt like an eternity\u201d before he was safely rescued, which he recounted to SFGATE last summer while recovering at San Francisco General Hospital.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

Before this year\u2019s race on June 7, SFGATE sought an interview with Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon officials last week through a public relations firm helping with the race. The spokesperson said race officials were \u201cunable to accommodate\u201d an interview but sent an unattributed statement on behalf of the race.<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cAthlete safety is central to the planning and delivery of the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon,\u201d the statement read. \u201cEach year, the race team reviews its operating procedures with the relevant state and federal agencies, and the confirmed swim start procedures for 2026 have already been communicated directly to participants through the Athlete Guide.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

The statement continued: \u201cFor this year\u2019s race, athletes will be organized on the start vessel by age group and released in a time-trial format, with start signals tied to clearance of the landing zone. The swim will be supported by approximately 100 watercraft across the Bay.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

Within the Athlete Guide, a full page is devoted to \u201cThe Jump,\u201d which is how triathletes start the three-leg race (swimming, cycling and running). The swim has been the first leg, with all the competitors loading onto boats, sailing out to the middle of the bay to the starting boat and kicking off the race by leaping into the water from the boat\u2019s edge.<\/p><\/div>

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Under a bolded banner asking participants to \u201creview the below Swim Start procedures carefully,\u201d Escape from Alcatraz says there will be a \u201cstarter\u201d at each of the boat\u2019s three jump locations and tells competitors not to jump into the water until they are signaled to do so by the starter.<\/p><\/div>

What\u2019s described is quite different from how the start was run in prior years\u00a0\u2014 SFGATE found an\u00a0 that only has a couple paragraphs of instructions about the jump, with most of them focused on overcoming any hesitation competitors may have \u2014 and especially so from last year\u2019s race. After the 2025 edition, triathletes took to social media to criticize the race\u2019s organization at the start, with an initial post saying race officials were \u201cyelling like drill sergeants\u201d when instructing people to get into the water.<\/p><\/div>

Kevin Edwards,a veteran triathlete who has done the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon before, told SFGATE that\u00a0\u201cit\u2019s never been as chaotic\u201d as it was in 2025 and said race officials weren\u2019t checking the water before encouraging competitors to jump off the boat. (Perez, for his part, told SFGATE that the race was \u201cone of the least organized races I\u2019ve probably ever been a part of.\u201d)<\/p><\/div>

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The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon account also posted multiple videos of the start of the 2025 race on social media, all of which seemed to confirm the triathletes\u2019 experiences. While one of the videos has since been removed,\u00a0a roughly 90-second video remains up, showing racers leaping into the water without any signals to stop them from jumping in and no assurances of a cleared-out landing zone.\u00a0<\/p>

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This year\u2019s race will be the first run by MARI, a new live events company started up by Hollywood superagent Ariel Emanuel. In November, MARI bought up the arts and entertainment division of IMG, the company that had previously owned and operated the race. MARI has kept the Professional Triathletes Organisation as a co-operator of the races.<\/p><\/div>

But\u00a0IMG, PTO and others involved in running last year\u2019s Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon are being sued by Perez for gross negligence, negligent design defect and a failure to warn. In a case that goes back to last September, Perez\u2019s legal team filed an amended complaint in February, and San Francisco Judge Ronald Quidachay denied the defendants\u2019 motion to strike the complaint in April. The next step in the case is a management conference later this month.<\/p><\/div>

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