Carfrae, a world-champion triathlete, was well into the bike section of the race, and holding down a respectable second place. The competitors were all using smart bikes while broadcasting via Skype, which commentators used to check in during the race. Carfraes well-intentioned husband, fellow triathlete Tim ODonnell, stood by to cheer her on, frequently appearing on the video feed, which was also .
When Carfrae was about halfway through the leg, ODonnells support included holding up a pair of Ironman trophies up to the camera while walking around her smart bikeyou can see him show up around 1 hour and 29 minutes into . Thats when tragedy struck.
With commentators speculating that she was having connectivity problems, Carfrae held up a sign saying. This is Tims fault. Still pedaling and determined to finish, she explained,He decided to bring my trophies in here for motivation, and when he walked around the back, he kicked out the plug. What an idiot! (For the record, she was smiling while she said it.)
The snafu scotched her chances at a victory, but Carfrae kept riding. Later, she posted on her
Instagram account
, Of all the things that could have gone wrong, TO kicking out the cord was definitely not on our radar. All in all, though, she seems to have forgiven her husbands clumsiness, and promises that when he races next week, she wont pull out his cord.