Madison firefighter is 2nd to die after Wisconsin triathlon

MADISON, Wis. – Authorities say a Wisconsin firefighter is the second man to die after being pulled from Lake Monona during the swimming portion of the Half Ironman 70.3-mile triathlon in Madison.

Thirty-eight-year-old Todd Mahoney was found unresponsive in the water Sunday morning and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Cynthia Schuster says Mahoney died Tuesday.

Another Wisconsin man, 61-year-old Michael McCulloch of Cottage Grove, also was taken out of the water and pronounced dead at a hospital. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s office says McCulloch’s death “was consistent with an accidental drowning due in part to a medical event.”

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Mahoney was an apparatus engineer with the Madison Fire Department.

The medical examiner’s office has not yet released a cause of Mahoney’s death.