A FORMER rugby player who died while competing in a triathlon was left in the water for 20 minutes, an inquest has heard.
Steve Begley, 42, who played for Glasgow Hawks, Glasgow Academicals and Scotland Under-21s in the 1990s, died during the Singapore Triathlon relay last September.
His family are calling for better safety procedures to be put in place to prevent a similar tragedy, saying that there should have been extra lifeguards on duty.
Mr Begley was the second fatality at the triathlon in eight years. Calvin Lee, who was also 42, died during the swim leg of the event in 2009.
Mr Begley’s partner, Vanessa Raymundo, told the John Beattie programme on BBC Radio Scotland that she watched his swim from the shoreline. She has video footage of him running out of the water and then returning for the second lap.
Mr Begley's body was found about 200m from the shore; he had apparently suffered heart failure.
Ms Raymundo said: “From the CCTV footage it doesn’t seem that the lifeguard had the capacity to cover two zones during the time the other lifeguard was going back to shore, assisting another participant.
"As to whether it would make a difference if Steve was found sooner, we will never know.”
His brother Matt said that he entered the triathlon “thinking he was a born-again sportsman” and admitted he had been “relatively unprepared”.
He said that data from his brother’s Garmin sports watch showed that his strokes slowed dramatically shortly after he returned to the water for a second lap.
Mr Begley said: “He was in that water, in my opinion, for far too long, before he received any attendance and that can be clearly demonstrated by the time lapses and the delay that the Garmin evidence shows.”
The family said they did not want to apportion blame for Mr Begley’s death, but wanted to prevent similar tragedies. Ms Raymundo said: “When it’s a sporting event of this calibre, so many participants, they should really have the most adequate safety procedures in place because they always say the safety of the athletes is the most important — well they should back that up with adequate safety detail and safety procedures.
“All we want is to be able to prevent or minimise the probability of this happening to another athlete.”
The inquest continues
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