Call for urgent council meeting to 'get to the bottom' of triathlon illnesses in Sunderland

Opposition councillors are calling for an emergency meeting of Sunderland City Council after dozens of athletes fell ill after participating triathlon events in the city over the last weekend in July.

At least 57 people were confirmed as suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea after taking part in events during the World Triathlon Championships Series in Sunderland.

British Triathlon, the council and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) North East are investigating, and the chief executive of UKHSA said it is 'important to think carefully about what associations are being made' before all information is obtained.

Liberal Democrat councillors, however, have called for an emergency meeting of the council 'to get to the bottom' of the situation – and confirm whether or not the city’s beaches are safe to swim in.

The proposed meeting would see a debate and vote on actions including:

•  Starting an independent council-led testing process for assessing the water quality off Sunderland’s beaches.
•  Set up an independent public inquiry into why the World Triathlon Championship Series Event was allowed to go ahead.
•  Commission a full independent investigation and survey of the sewage system and outflows into the River Wear and North Sea off Sunderland.
• Provide an urgent update on 'how this situation was allowed to happen' given the council’s duty of care to participants and to safeguarding public health; and whether the water off beaches in Sunderland is safe to swim in.

 Sewage in waters off the Sunderland coast has been a bugbear of campaigners for decades, and the Lib Dems have been campaigning on the issue.

Northumbrian Water has, however, stated no discharge which would have led to the drop in water quality found in Environment Agency testing has been made in Sunderland since October 2021.

Councillor Malcolm Bond, who represents the Fulwell and Seaburn areas of the city, said: “This incident has put Sunderland in the headlines across the country for all the wrong reasons. It’s a complete disgrace."

He added: “The public deserve the truth. That’s why Lib Dem councillors are demanding that Sunderland Council starts its own regular testing and publishes the results.

"It is only by independent testing – together with a full inquiry into what happened at the Triathlon and an independent survey of the sewage systems in Sunderland – that the council can start to give the public the truth and the reassurance they need about swimming at Roker and Seaburn in the future.”

A spokesperson for Sunderland City Council said: "The city council takes safeguarding public health and our duty of care to participants and everyone who lives and works in our city, and visits, extremely seriously.

 "We are continuing to work with UKHSA North East's Health Protection team as they carry out epidemiological investigations to understand more about possible causes of illness in participants. 

 "At this stage we would not speculate until these investigations are complete."

British Triathlon carried out water quality testing in the swim area for the triathlon in the two years leading up to the event, as well as in the build up to and over the race weekend, to ensure that water in the area where participants swam was safe to do so. 

However, an Environment Agency test on July 26, which was outside the swim zone, found detected 39 times the amount of E.coli bacteria found in the water during typical readings.

The council and Northumbrian Water have all stressed Roker and Seaburn Beaches are both award-winning blue flag beaches and have been for a number of years, with people swimming there most days of the year, with the waters rated ‘Excellent’ by the Environment Agency, based on samples taken weekly from May to September.

 The Environment Agency said in the days immediately after the illnesses were reported that it believes the dip in water quality may be connected to recent high rainfall.