Funeral details announced for Slane man who died in Cork Ironman event

The funeral of a 45 year old man from Slane who died during the swim section of an Ironman event in Youghal, Co Cork on Sunday is due to take place later this week.

Brendan Wall got engaged to fiancée Tina earlier this year and was living in Solihull in the West Midlands in the UK.

The native of Cardrath in Slane, will lie in repose at Watters Funeral Home in Collon tomorrow (Wed) from 4pm to 8pm. His funeral mass will take place on Thursday at 1pm in the Church of St Brigid, Grangegeeth in Slane with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

He is survived by his fiancée Tina, parents Oliver and Gertrude, brothers Martin and Joe, sister Maria, extended family and a large circle of friends.

Mr Wall was a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin where he studied manufacturing and mechanical engineering. He also completed an MBA in the University of Hull.

He started work as a sales director at Top Tubes Ltd in Wednesbury in the UK in May of this year having previously been employed by Cavan based cutting tools manufacturer, the ATA Group.

Managing Director of Top Tubes Ltd, April Pearson Myatt, extended her heartfelt condolences to the fiancee and family of their late employee.

"It is devastating news. Brendan was a key member of the team and will be sadly missed both at a personal and professional level. Thinking of Brendan's family at this very sad time."

She said that the news of the death had been met with a "heavy heart" at their company.

A second man 65-year-old Ivan Chittenden from Toronto in Canada also passed away during the event in Cork. Mr Chittenden was holidaying in Ireland when he decided to take part in the event in Youghal.

The men had been taking part in the 1.7km swim portion of the event when they got into difficulty.

Both men were removed from the water by emergency services and were pronounced dead by medical personnel.

The swimmers were among several thousand competitors who entered the water at the Front Strand in Youghal.

Investigations are underway into their deaths.

It was revealed yesterday that the endurance race went ahead after Triathlon Ireland warned organisers they could not sanction the event given the weather conditions.

The revelation came as Triathlon Ireland (TI) chief executive Darren Coombes issued a statement which confirmed their association was “reeling from the news” of the two deaths.Mr Coombes said the tragedy was devastating for the entire triathlon community.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Ivan’s and Brendan’s loved ones," he added.

"The triathlon community is a very close community and this loss has had a devastating effect on all of us.

“TI is the national governing body for triathlon in Ireland, a role which includes providing sanction for club and commercial races to proceed. In our almost 40 year history, the sport in Ireland has an impeccable safety record.

“For the Ironman Cork event, in line with normal practice, TI technical officials attended before the start of the race to review the conditions and carry out a water safety assessment.Due to adverse conditions on the day, TI technical officials confirmed to the race organisers that it was not possible to sanction the race.”

TI said it could not comment further at this stage

.Local councillor Paddy Meade said the community was "in shock and saddened at this most tragic news."