Triathlete Hospitalised After Swimming in Polluted Open Water as Welsh Project Tracks Water Quality

A triathlete from Carmarthen has described falling seriously ill after swimming in contaminated open water, an experience that has left him questioning whether he can return to the same stretch of water he once trusted. Andrew Jones, an avid competitor who has qualified for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, this month, contracted Campylobacter — a bacterial infection — during training, and the timing could hardly have been worse.

Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal illness, typically spread through contaminated water or food, and in serious cases it can require urgent hospital care. For Jones, the infection struck roughly a week before one of the most significant races of his career, turning what should have been a final period of preparation into a medical emergency.

He recounted how his condition deteriorated rapidly on a Sunday evening at home. His temperature spiked, his heart rate climbed, and he began shaking uncontrollably, prompting an immediate trip to A&E. "It made me very sick," he said, describing the illness as "pretty nasty." He was admitted to hospital just over a week before the race, an interruption he described as very bad timing.

Beyond the physical toll, the episode has shaken his confidence in open-water swimming venues. Jones said athletes typically enter the water believing conditions are safe and that the location is a good place to swim. That assumption, he explained, has now been undermined, and he admitted the illness has made him think twice about swimming in that particular area again.

His case has drawn attention to a broader concern within the sport: the reliability of water-quality testing at open-water events. Organisers usually test water shortly before a race to determine whether it is safe for swimming, but that approach has significant limitations. Samples are often taken at only one or two locations close to the event, offering a narrow snapshot rather than a detailed picture of conditions along the course.

Triathlon Cymru, the national governing body for the sport in Wales, is now attempting to close that gap through a project it describes as the first of its kind. The Safer Blue Spaces initiative, run in partnership with Swim Wales, Bangor University and Imperial College London, is using small wearable sampling devices to gather reliable data on water quality at sites across Wales.

The project was funded by the insurance group Admiral, and its methods mark a departure from conventional testing. At Barry's SWYD Sprint Triathlon in August, competitors were pulled aside before the race and fitted with devices roughly the size of a fifty-pence piece, attached to the backs of their wetsuits. As the athletes swam, the samplers followed their exact route through the water, collecting information at points that fixed testing stations would never capture.

After the swim leg, competitors entered the transition area to remove their wetsuits and continue the race. The technical team then stepped in to cut the devices free, preparing them for laboratory analysis at Bangor University. Kate Herridge, a PhD student involved in the research, explained that the next stage involves concentrating the collected water samples and examining whether any pathogens have attached themselves to the samplers. This process, she said, allows researchers to detect and identify what is present in the water.

Amy Jenner, Triathlon Cymru's head of development, stressed the importance of understanding what athletes are being exposed to. She noted that the organisation runs roughly 60 events a year across Wales, and that knowing what is in the water is essential when athletes are being placed into it. She said the funding allows the project to carry out research and testing, and to report its findings back to athletes, event organisers, Natural Resources Wales and Public Health Wales.

Simon Webb, who organises the Barry SWYD Sprint Triathlon, said it was important that competitors could swim without the risk of potentially falling ill. His comment reflects a growing recognition that water quality is not merely an environmental issue but a practical concern for the health and safety of participants.

Triathlon Cymru hopes that in the future it will be able to share the data it collects with environmental agencies and water companies. The aim is to build a more accurate understanding of what is present in seas, lakes and rivers, and to support steps that improve water quality. For athletes like Jones, who have experienced the consequences firsthand, such progress cannot come soon enough. His ambition to compete at the highest level remains, but so does the memory of an illness that struck at the worst possible moment — and the uncertainty about the water he once swam in without a second thought.