Organizers of the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines on Thursday vowed to provide more contingency measures to avoid the tragedy that befell one of its participants during the inaugural staging of its tournament last week in CamSur Watersports Complex in Pili, Camarines Sur.

Businessman Juan Miguel Vasquez suffered a stroke and died afterwards while competing in the swim leg of the middle distance event which turned out to be the only blot in the successful staging of the event.

“Our investigations confirm that we followed the correct procedures but certainly we will deploy additional measures to mitigate a similar occurrence in the future,” Sunrise Events Inc. president Wilfred Uytengsu Jr. said in a statement. “The safety of the athletes is always our top priority.”

Standard procedures were followed strictly with a representative from Asia Pacific World Triathlon Competition on hand to supervise the event but what happened to Vasquez was not expected although the extreme sport is quite dangerous.

Just two weeks ago, a business executive also died in the swim leg of the OSIM Singapore triathlon. In the United States, another American triathlete was struck and killed in the bike leg of the race a month ago.

Uytengsu said standard protocols were also followed in search and rescue operation for Vasquez.

“But we cannot second guess if the outcome would have been any different had he been sitting down when he suffered a stroke,” Uytengsu stated.