A triathlete who survived an alligator attack in the Savannah River shared his story with OutKick OutDoors.
Jonathan Bruney took a trip to the Georgia/ South Carolina border for what he thought would be a routine day of training for an upcoming Ironman competition.
“This was a work trip for me as a coach to bring my athletes down to the river on a recon course day, is what we call it,” Bruney explained.
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“We all went down to Augusta, we got ready to swim, and this was just going to be a nice, easy zone-two, low-heart-rate day. Just going through each portion of the course.”
While he was leading the pack, Bruney felt a bump on his elbow that turned the whole day into a fight for survival.
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“I was breathing and sighting on my left side … and he was on my right. That’s when my elbow felt the brute of the force.”
Bruney thought the alligator, which he described to be anywhere between five and six feet, was a log.
“I wasn’t even thinking gator,” said Bruney. “I’m thinking, ‘Okay, big log floating in the river.’ But then I looked to my right. I’m like, ‘Okay, this is a lot worse than a log.’”
Almost immediately, Bruney’s fight or flight instincts kicked into overdrive.
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“This thing’s big enough to barrel roll and rip the arm off if I don’t get away quickly,” he recalls.
His next move may have ultimately saved his life, or at the very least, his arm.
“I did have two moderate punches, but that didn’t do anything… [I] went up the snout and squeezed the eye.”
Bruney explains that he learned about the eyes being sensitive spots from watching “Shark Week” (who says you can’t learn anything from TV shows).
After making it to shore, Bruney wasn’t just worried about his own safety, but for the safety of his fellow athletes, too.
“I hope this gator doesn’t bite one of my athletes,” he said.
None of the swimmers had their phones on them, so a good samaritan had to dial 9-1-1.
While that was taking place, a friend of Bruney’s was able to stop the bleeding using a cord from his swim buoy.
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By the time the first responders arrived, Bruney was starting to feel dizzy and his entire arm was running cold.
He credits the police officers and EMTs, who were first to arrive on the scene, with keeping him calm and treating his wounds.
“The police officers, they came on scene pretty quickly. I mean, within a few minutes I heard their sirens,” Bruney said. “They actually wrapped my arm up. Pretty good props to them for knowing what to do. And then the ambulance came.”
While the doctors cleared him to continue training for his competition, Bruney admits there was a moment of doubt.
But after giving it some thought, he said there was no way he was going to let this deter him.
“Being able to remove my race entry, that’s not on the books. I can’t do that.”
When I asked him whether he would ever go back in the water, Bruney didn’t hesitate.
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“We’ll be back in there,” he said, confidently.
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