Ironman Leeds cancels swim due to blue-green algae

Organizers of Ironman Leeds have cancelled the swimming portion of the race due to hazardous water quality in Waterloo Lake. Recent hot weather in the United Kingdom has caused a bloom of blue-green algae in the lake, located in Roundhay Park.

Following advice from the UK Health Security Agency Environmental Hazards Team and Leeds City Council, test results confirmed that algae levels were significantly above the safety threshold. Consequently, both the scheduled practice swim and the official race swim have been scrapped.

The event will proceed as a bike-and-run race. Athletes will instead compete in a 112-mile (180 km) cycling segment followed by a 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run. To accommodate the change, organizers have implemented a rolling time trial start from the transition area and extended the cycling segment cutoff time by 30 minutes.