After the tragic death of a 38-year-old triathlete during Ironman Texas this weekend, a volunteer who spent hours attempting to help her has come forward to describe the harrowing moments that unfolded in the water.
Mara Flávia Araujo, a 38-year-old Brazilian fitness influencer, died while participating in the Ironman Texas held in The Woodlands on Saturday. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Araujo drowned during the swimming portion of the event. An official cause of death has not yet been released..
In the aftermath of her death, family, friends and followers are grieving the devastating loss. Among them is Shawn McDonald, a volunteer who attended the event with his 12-year-old daughter, monitoring the swim portion of the race from his paddleboard.
The former Ironman competitor posted to Facebook on Saturday, reporting the loss of an athlete.
On Saturday morning, McDonald said a group of young volunteers began raising a flag and yelling for help. He said it took him about 30 seconds to paddle over, where several swimmers were clinging to the sides of nearby kayaks, saying that an athlete had gone under.
“The panic and fear on their faces won’t leave me for a long time,” McDonald wrote.
McDonald said he immediately dove in and began searching for Araujo alongside another young volunteer.
“After about a minute underwater, I felt her body with my foot,” he wrote. “I surfaced, took what seemed like the deepest breath I have ever taken and went back down. She was gone.”
The volunteer said he dove back in countless times over the next hour, hopeful that he would find her and pull her to the surface. Ultimately, boats with sonar arrived, and McDonald continued diving.
“It never entered my mind that she had already passed long ago. I just kept searching like I was going to pull her up alive,” McDonald wrote. “Looking back, I was probably taking more risks than I should have. But I couldn’t stop.”
When dive teams arrived around 9 a.m., McDonald said he was asked to exit the water. Araujo was recovered around 9:30 a.m. and pronounced deceased, according to officials.
“She had gone into that water chasing something most people only dream of finishing. She trained for it. She showed up for it. She deserved to come out of it,” McDonald wrote.
McDonald said Mara was “someone’s whole world” and reflected on the loss her family is enduring.
“To her family: we did everything we could. I am so deeply, genuinely sorry that it wasn’t enough. She will stay with me,” he wrote. “May she rest in peace. I will be praying for all of you and please do the same for us.”