The Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon – this year combined with the PTO T100 – is one of the sport’s most iconic and demanding events – a bucket-list race for triathletes around the globe. But this year’s edition was marred by a tragic incident that raises urgent questions about race safety and oversight.
On Sunday (June 1), during the opening minutes of the swim, experienced triathlete and Chicago firefighter Jose Perez was critically injured in what can only be described as ‘chaotic conditions’. As reported by local website SF Gate, Perez was struck by another participant who leapt from the race boat and landed directly on his head. The impact left Perez instantly paralyzed.
“My brother was instantly paralyzed,” his brother Samuel Perez told SF Gate. “He knew instantly he couldn’t move his arms and legs. Him being a paramedic and fireman, he knew the severity of the situation.”
Perez was pulled from the water and transported to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on his cervical spine. He remains in intensive care, with limited mobility and no sensation in his hands and fingers. Recovery will likely take a year or more – if full recovery is even possible.
Triathletes are no strangers to risk, especially in events like Escape From Alcatraz, with its frigid waters and strong currents. According to participants and spectators this wasn’t about environmental conditions. According to them this was about procedural failure. According to firsthand accounts from other participants, what unfolded was a dangerously unregulated start to the race.
“I’ve been doing this a few times now, and it’s never been chaotic like this,” Kevin Edwards of Los Altos Hills told SF Gate. He described a situation in which volunteers were shouting at athletes to jump with little regard for whether the water below was clear. “There was nobody who was providing any sort of moderation, monitoring, filtering or restrictions of anything,” he said.
Edwards said he saw the incident involving Perez and still, by the time his group was called, he too was pressured to jump. “The hand was out, and they were like, ‘Go, don’t stop. Go, go,’” he said. “I had to put my hand up to say, ‘No, there are people in the water.’ I waited and then jumped and took off.”
Video footage from the event, posted online by organizers, appears to support these claims: unmetered jumps, a lack of visible race officials, and swimmers landing perilously close to one another.
The Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon team issued a brief statement to SF Gate, noting: “The safety of our participants and spectators is of utmost importance to us and we have robust safety protocols in place based on the unique challenges of this course.” But in light of what occurred, many in the triathlon community are questioning whether those protocols were adequately enforced – or present at all.
Even more troubling is the post-race silence Perez’s family says they’ve received from the organizing body. “The conversation, as we left it, was, ‘We’ll be in touch, we’ll follow up, we’ll check in on you guys,’” said Samuel. “That hasn’t been the case.”
