Sokcho Triathlon

I arrived really early - embarrassingly early. Well, some foreigners competing at the triathlon told me that the English page of the website was wrong - the race didn't start at 6:30 am but at 8:00am. A bit of a shame because it was as warm or warmer at 6:30 as at 8:00.

Anyway, I had left my sleeping wife and child at home and couldn't stay all day so I watch the prep and the swim leg of the race.
This isn't part of the triathlon although many triathletes are on the ferry.
I did not see the athlete with a disability ( adapted from the competitive swimming designation) in the swim leg but I did see him ride. You might say I wouldn't know the difference between a disabled swimmer and an able bodied one (and, as a later pic will show, you might be right) but the course was two laps of the swimming course with a 10 metre run on shore between laps so I think I would have noticed something.
I helped a little with the cleanup of the water bottles. When they were ready to go, a worker offered me a bottle in gratitude. Gee, thanks for the free water.
I kept an eye on the lifeguarding crew and was surprised to see scuba tanks. A wise precaution, I guess.
As soon as these guys hit the water, they were on the bouyline. As far as I could tell, they did the whole course arm-over-arm on the bouyline. I can understand hanging on after getting a foot in the face or some such thing but these people seemed to be in a triathlon and completely unable to swim.

I saw a little of the cycling and was impressed but the course was not so impressive. At several point athletes had to make 180 degree turns and even more 90 degree turns. There weren't many places to get into a long steady rhythm.