The San Diego Union-Tribune reported today that endurance athlete Barbara Warren of San Diego suffered a broken neck Saturday while competing in the Santa Barbara triathlon. The 65-year old Warren crashed during the bike segment of the race and had no movement below the neck since then. She is currently in the Intensive Care Unit at The Cottage hospital in Santa Barbara.

Warren broke the ondontoid bone and the C2 cervical vertebrae according to Mac Larsen, an Alvarado Hospital emergency physician, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Warren's husband, Tom Warren was quoted to have said that his wife was conscious and alert but could not talk because she was on a ventilator to assist her breathing.

"Barbara and Tommy are two of my favorite people on the planet. They live and breathe the endurance sports lifestyle and like nothing better than accomplishing something no one thought they could do. If this is true and
Barbara is indeed seriously injured, please take a few moments out of your day to pray for Barbara’s recovery," said a stunned Bob Babbitt in an e-mail to the San Diego triathlon community.

Barbara Warren, a psychologist, is a several-time participant and an age-group winner in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii. She has also participated in a multitude of other endurance events including a triple Ironman, the 2,983-mile Race Across America bike race, the 135-mile Badwater footrace across Death Valley and the Marathon des Sables, a seven day run across the Sahara Desert.

Tom Warren won the 1979 Ironman Hawaii.