Man dies after competing in Galveston triathlon
The widow of an athlete who suffered a medical emergency while competing in the Galveston Ironman Triathlon has launched a private investigation. FOX 26’s Damali Keith reports the family is looking to find out exactly how he died.
GALVESTON, Texas – The widow of an athlete who suffered a medical emergency while competing in the Galveston Ironman Triathlon, and later died, has now launched a private investigation.
According to 49-year-old Jean-Francois Alain’s family, he didn’t have any known health problems. They want this independent investigation, not only to find why and how he died but also to determine if there was an issue with the emergency response during the Galveston Ironman Triathlon two Sundays ago, on April 7.
“We want to understand. His sons want to understand because we don’t know the whole story here,” says his widow Veronique Tremblay.
There are a lot of questions from the 49-year-old’s two teen sons and his widow after Alain, a Canadian, came here to Texas to compete in the Galveston Ironman Triathlon.
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“We were so proud of him. He was in his best shape ever,” Tremblay says, but during Galveston’s half Ironman triathlon earlier this month, in the 1.2-mile swim, Alain raised his hand, signaling he needed help.
“We’ve had quite a few folks reach out to give us an understanding of what they saw,” explains Attorney Will Moye.
Alain’s family hired Moye and launched an investigation to find out what happened and if there was a delay in getting him medical attention.
“It’s certainly not an allegation, but it is a concern that there were perhaps some reaction issues, and maybe some equipment issues that might not have met the expectations that Ironman has and certainly not the expectations participants have,” says Moye.
The Galveston competition was supposed to be more training for the 49-year-old, so his wife was still in Canada that Sunday morning.
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“I woke up, and I texted him ‘Good luck and I love you, take care, don’t do stupid things.’ Next thing I know, I was brushing my teeth,” Tremblay explains.
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