#IronmanVictims, the platform for a collective claim to IRONMAN

The current panorama of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world is making estragos in the world of sports.

Hundreds of canceled events, many of them Triathlon have left many athletes without options to compete in this 2020.

The reaction of the organizers has been varied to this pandemic, many of them have offered various options to athletes, including the refund of the amount or the transfer to the 2021 or later edition.

In Spain a platform to claim in common the rights of cancellations and make a collective claim against the IRONMAN franchise

This is the statement from the #IronmanVictims platform,

"Disappointment and disappointment is invading hundreds of thousands of amateur athletes around the world as a result of the continuous cancellations of the IRONMAN franchise sports events as a result of COVID19.

These cancellations are being carried out at the last moment, in a clumsy way and with little information, generating a state of uncertainty and defenselessness for the registered athletes.

IRONMAN has betrayed its own values ​​based on effort, camaraderie and resilience in order to minimize the economic impact of COVID19 on the company, even at the cost of the effort and trust of its athletes.

This feeling of disappointment and disappointment with IRONMAN is precisely the reason that has led us to create the platform "#IronmanVictims" with the aim of bringing together all those affected athletes to act collectively.

The disappointment and anger of the athletes is not due to the suspension of their tests, since we are aware of the serious situation that derives from the global pandemic.

But you have to understand that preparing an IRONMAN test involves a titanic effort, not only due to the amount of hours dedicated to physical preparation, but also at an economic, family and logistical level, so that the dates of the tests cannot be modified as if it were a meeting of friends.

The enormous discomfort generated among the thousands of people registered around the world is due to the response and strategy of the company to face the impact of COVID19 in its sports events, in which it blatantly puts its economic interests before in front of their athletes, leaving them in a situation of absolute helplessness and powerlessness.

These torts have occurred under the following actions:

1. Refusal to return (partial or total) of registrations for any of their careers, as indicated by Andrew Messik, General Director of IRONMAN in an interview in April 2020.

2. Official cancellation of sports events once the refund policy is not applicable, as long as you do not have the obligation to return the registration fee.

3. Improvisation and lack of transparency in official communications to athletes about the status of events.

4. Contingency strategy based on prioritizing your interests by offering the possibility of 1) transferring the registration to one of its 2020 tests with less affluence (Tallinn, Kazakhstan or Cascais, even knowing that they will most likely not be disputed), or 2 ) transfer the registration to the same test for the following year.

5. Once the athletes decided the least bad option, IRONMAN forced them to accept a new refund and claim policy in which the athletes waive any refund and claim rights to IRONMAN, which removes any responsibility or refund from the registration in case the test cannot be held, either, in 2021 as a result of COVID19.

This improper conduct of a brand like IRONMAN has led to the creation of the #Ironmanvictims platform to present a collective claim to the IRONMAN franchise.

All those athletes who want to find out or join the initiative can do so through the Facebook page or the Telegram group "Ironman Victims"From where we will report on the next steps to be taken."