‘Swimming in s**t’: up to 57 triathletes struck with diarrhoea and vomiting after race off UK coast

“That’s what you get when you swim in s**t”, said Australian triathlete Jake Birthwistle, who along with 56 other athletes fell ill after taking part in swimming competitions off the Wearside coast.

Around 2,000 people took part in the UK leg of the World Triathlon Championship series in Sunderland on 29 July, which included a swim off the city’s Roker beach.

At least 57 athletes fell ill after the event with diarrhoea and vomiting, according to health officials.

Environment Agency sampling at the beach three days before the race, on 26 July, detected 39 times the amount of e-coli found in the water during typical readings. E-coli is a bacterial infection that can cause stomach pain and bloody diarrhoea.

However, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency has said not to speculate on whether sewage discharged into the sea may have caused the illnesses and “we need to be really careful in establishing the facts”.

Asked if the possible E.coli could have been from sewage discharged into the sea, Professor Dame Jenny Harries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “As I think both Northumbrian Water and the organisers British Triathlon have said, there are a number of different samples, different testing points and there will be samples from the individual athletes, and until we have all of that put together it’s very important to think carefully about what associations are being made, none of that is available at the moment.

“The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it would send those with symptoms a questionnaire and ask them to send a sample for testing to determine the cause of the illness.”

She added that the UK Health Security Agency’s North East team “are looking into this” and British Triathlon has sent out questionnaires asking the athletes what their symptoms are and exactly when they had them.

The UKHSA said in a statement the organisers of the event “have written to all participants to ensure they are aware and to advise anyone with symptoms to seek medical advice”, adding that the “risk to the wider public is very low.”

The stretch of coastline where the swim took place has been at the centre of a long-running dispute between campaigners and the government over sewage discharges.

The Environment Agency (EA) said water off the beach was classed as excellent last year based on samples taken in the previous four summers.

British Triathlon, the governing body for UK triathlons, said its own testing results had passed the required standards for the event - but added that the EA’s results were not published until after the weekend’s events on Monday 31 July and were taken outside the body of the water where the competitions took place.

Australian triathlete Birthwistle posted the EA’s results on Instagram, saying that he has been feeling “pretty rubbish” since the race and it “should have been cancelled”.

Another athlete said: “That now explains why I spent Monday night with my head in the toilet after racing Sunday morning!”

An EA spokesperson said “the beaches at Roker and Seaburn were both classified as ‘excellent’ last year” and it will “continue to investigate pollution sources and drive improvements to ensure cleaner and healthier waters for people to enjoy.”

Northumbrian Water insisted that there have been no sewage discharges at the beach since 2021. A spokesperson from the company said “sampling to date in the current season indicate this high quality is being maintained.”

It comes after Britain’s triathlon team for the upcoming world championships have been forced to abandon their open-water training off the coast of Lancashire due to “horrible” sewage pollution.

Adam Diver, a 46-year-old former army captain from Fleetwood, Lancashire, said the team had struggled to train off the coast of Fleetwood as a result of sewage spills that occurred in June.

The triathletes recently travelled to the Lake District  to replicate open-water conditions and make up for the lack of recent sea training and to replicate open-water conditions.