Super-fit Sam Buchan, 31, got into difficulty while swimming in the Ironman 70.3 race at Swansea Marina – his wife raised concerns about the time taken to administer first aid
A fitness fanatic tragically lost his life after encountering difficulties during an Ironman competition, an inquest was told. Sam Buchan, 31, was approximately 0.6 miles (1km) into the swimming section of the Ironman 70.3 race on July 13 last year at Swansea Marina when he was pulled from the water.
The inquest in Swansea heard he was hauled onto a rescue vessel and administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Mr Buchan was rushed to Morriston Hospital in Swansea but passed away on July 16 after his life support was turned off.
A post-mortem examination revealed the father-of-one, from Aberdeen, had died from “anoxic ischemic encephalopathy, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and exertional heat stroke during a sporting event“.
Mr Buchan, who was employed as an engineer in the North Sea oil and gas sector, had travelled to west Wales with his family for the competition.
The event includes a 1.2-mile (1.9km) swim at the Prince of Wales Dock followed by a 56-mile (90km) cycling course through Mumbles and along the Gower clifftops which circles back into Swansea for a 13.1-mile (21.1km) run.
His wife Samantha informed the inquest her husband had no medical background apart from mild asthma and hay fever, and he had been preparing for the event for 12 months.
“Sam was a very active, friendly person who spent spare time trying out new hobbies, such as hiking, surfing, roasting his own coffee, cooking, weightlifting, running and cycling,” Mrs Buchan said. “He took part in many events such as 10K runs, half-marathons and many others throughout his life.
“He had built up to the Ironman, which was researched, memorised and trained for thoroughly for over one year.”
Mrs Buchan said she wasn’t present at the event but was monitoring his progress through his Ironman tracker.
“I received a phone call at 8.55am from Ironman to notify me Sam had suffered a cardiac arrest in the water and was now on his way to Morriston Hospital,” she said.
The day after, Mrs Buchan was informed by medics that her husband was displaying severe signs of permanent brain damage. He passed away in the early hours of July 16.
She added: “I have serious concerns around the length of time taken for Sam to receive first aid.
“From the various stories I was told over that day, it took anything from between 10 to 30 minutes to get Sam from the water and to start chest compressions.
“It appears that the first aid was second to none when Sam made it to the medical tent. But the time it took to get him there would have caused his death.
“I feel Ironman failed him in providing appropriate first aid.
“It appeared to be very little to no access to appropriate first aid equipment and potentially a lack of training to deal with this type of medical emergency.
“Taking more than eight minutes to retrieve a body from the water and not having appropriate equipment to start active chest compressions, or even attempting a precordial thump, is not allowing any participant to ever survive if put in the same scenario.
“Sam should have woken up from this medically. But sadly, due to the time his brain was starved of oxygen, he has now lost his entire life.
“His two-year-old daughter will not get to grow up with him, and the entire family is broken.
“Nothing can be changed in our situation, but I hope for the future the better protocols and safety equipment can be put in place, so no other family has to go through this again.”
The inquest was told by various individuals involved in Mr Buchan’s rescue that approximately three-and-a-half minutes elapsed from when he was first spotted struggling in the water to reaching the medical station.
Safety team paddleboarder Wayne Evans was the first person to reach Mr Buchan after witnessing him cease swimming.
“I asked him again, are you all right? This time, there was no thumbs up or response. I quickly paddled over to him,” Mr Evans said.
“There was no response, and I noticed he was starting to sink.”
Mr Evans stated there were no signs of breathing, so he placed him on his paddle board to administer breaths and contacted the nearby rescue boat. Tom Denham, who was aboard and qualified in emergency care, began CPR, but owing to an issue with the vessel Mr Buchan was moved to a second boat which transported him to the shoreline.
Dr Ed Langford, who was heading the medical team at the Ironman event, said Mr Buchan had developed hyperthermia and had a core body temperature of 40.4C.
“Because it might be a potential cause, we started cooling right from the outset of him arriving with us,” he said.
“Clearly the first part of that is to cut the wetsuit off, and that obviously would retain heat.
“We get cold water, and so that cold water is being applied to Sam simultaneously before we know what his temperature is.
“It’s a potential abnormality. Whilst he felt cool, probably because he had been in the water, we don’t know what the core temperature is.
“One of the contributing factors certainly is the fact that his temperature is above 40 degrees.
“He’s obviously got neurological compromise given that he’s in cardiac arrest. We would describe that as severe exertional heat illness.”
Aled Gruffydd, the senior coroner for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, recorded a narrative conclusion.
“In considering the evidence, I find Sam suffered a cardiac arrest after overheating in the swim leg of the Ironman 70.3 event in Swansea,” the coroner said.
“A lot was made in the inquest of trying to drill down the exact length of time (the rescue) took, and this was a difficult exercise given some conflicting timings.
“In my view, I make a finding it was more in the region of five minutes.
“The engine of the boat having difficulties was regrettable and did add to the transfer, but I do not consider, in view of the CPR that was ongoing, that that would have altered the outcome.
“I cannot speculate how Sam succumbed to heat exertion in that environment, only that it was deeply tragic and unforeseeable.
“Sam’s death is completely tragic in such circumstances, doing something that he had trained so long to partake in.”