Inquest into tragedy at lakes Triathlete had history of epilepsy, inquest is told
selvey@thekmgroup.co.uk A triathlete who died while taking part in his first race suffered from epilepsy, it has been revealed.
The inquest into Paul Gallihawk’s death was opened and adjourned at Archbishop’s Palace, Maidstone, on Friday morning, when it was revealed his epilepsy played a part in his death.
Coroner’s officer Gary Waple told the hearing a postmortem examination had given the cause of death as immersion, with epilepsy being a contributing factor.
Mr Waple said the 34-year-old sales consultant had not had a seizure for 10 years, but had recently seen a doctor after suffering from dizzy spells and had been referred to King’s College Hospital in London – for which he was raising money.
Mr Gallihawk had just started the Ocean Lake Triathlon at Leybourne Lakes, Larkfield, on Saturday, August 29 when he disappeared.
He entered the lake for the first leg of the triathlon, a 750m swim, but failed to emerge.
Emergency crews were alerted and police officers, fire crews and about 30 volunteers from Kent Search and Rescue (KSAR) embarked on a three-day search.
Mr Gallihawk’s body was discovered 80m from the shoreline just after 9.30am on Bank Holiday Monday.
Mid Kent and Medway coroner Patricia Harding, opening and adjourning the inquest, did not set a date for the full hearing as she said other agencies would be carrying out their own investigations and she did not know when those would be concluded.
Instead she scheduled a preinquest review for Tuesday, December 22.
After his death, donations poured into a JustGiving page Mr Gallihawk set up to raise funds for King’s College Hospital, which looked after his dad Malcolm last year.
More than £18,000 had been raised, smashing his £300 target.
Speaking after the inquest’s opening, mum Linda Gallihawk said: “The coroner told us although he had epilepsy there was no evidence he had a seizure.
“He had seen a doctor at Maidstone who said he would send him for a scan, but he hadn’t had it.
“They didn’t think the dizzy spells were related to the epilepsy but they wanted to double check.”
More than 600,000 people in the UK have epilepsy. Seizures are caused when there is a sudden burst of intense electrical activity in the brain, which temporarily disrupts the way it works.
Sunday League football teams pay their respects, page 85
Donate at www.justgiving.com/ Paul-Gallihawk